Sambucus ebulus is an un-branched perennial growing to a height of 1 metre (occasionally 1.5m) and spreading by underground rhizomes. It has panicles of whitish flowers (pinkish in bud) each flower with 5 anthers which are at first pink-purple but later turn brown-black and smaller. The leaves are in symmetrical opposite pairs of 1-pinnate leaves, some with more leaflets than others. Mature fruits (berries) are purple-black.

Provide photographs showing the whole plant in its habitat, with details of leaves and flowers. (RPR)

In hedgerows, on roadsides and waste ground, usually in small numbers but locally forming thickets.

In flower during July and August.

A robust perennial rhizomatous herb.

Occasional, but fairly widespread in Britain.

Uncommon and local in Leicestershire and Rutland.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 4 of the 617 tetrads, and in 2 tetrads in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971).

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) as Locally Scarce (i.e. present in 4-10 sites)