0

I've read that the wood of an elderberry plant is poisonous, is a green berry just as poisonous?

black thumb
  • 8,786
  • 2
  • 30
  • 67
  • Like the other question, it might help to add where you've read it for some context :) – Tim Malone Jun 16 '16 at 08:00
  • 2
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about the edibility of a plant. Please see the [help/on-topic] for more information. – Niall C. Jun 16 '16 at 13:51

1 Answers1

3

All parts of Elderberry are toxic, except the flowers and the flesh of the berries - ripe berries need cooking before use to destroy the cyanide like compound in the seeds they contain. I can't imagine why anyone would want to use the green berries for anything, any more than you'd use unripe blackberries -they're unripe and untasty, but the same rules apply - the seeds are toxic, and I'd imagine the green berries themselves may be somewhat toxic; that's hard to establish because no one eats them anyway, so they've not been tested.

Toxicity of the berry seeds is thought to vary between species of Elder - the one most commonly used for its flowers and berries is Sambucus nigra, but Sambucus nigra canadensis (American elderberry), which also has black berries, can be used too.

More information here http://normsfarms.com/are-elderberry-bushes-poisonous/

Bamboo
  • 131,823
  • 3
  • 72
  • 162
  • you're thinking about red ones, not black ones. – black thumb Jun 16 '16 at 15:50
  • Erm, what makes you say that exactly,Black Thumb? At which point am I 'thinking' of 'red ones' , and red what? Berries on the red berried variety? The red you get between green and black as they ripen? If you mean the red berried variety, which is Sambucus racemosa, I'm not thinking about that at all, and haven't listed it in my answer, but please explain what you have not been able to comprehend. – Bamboo Jun 16 '16 at 16:26
  • Ah, appears to be irrelevent anyway, just realised this has been put on hold as off topic, so unless you feel the need, you need not explain your confusion. – Bamboo Jun 16 '16 at 16:30
  • you can still answer the question – black thumb Jun 16 '16 at 16:36
  • Ah well, maybe you can explain what you meant by your original comment then. – Bamboo Jun 16 '16 at 16:37
  • it's about eating them before they get eaten by the birds. – black thumb Jun 16 '16 at 19:14
  • Well what I asked was, why did you feel I was 'thinking of red ones'... As for eating them green, you wouldn't want to anyway, they're unpalatable. – Bamboo Jun 16 '16 at 19:36
  • Heirloom raw rhubarb right off the plant is palatable to me. – black thumb Jun 16 '16 at 20:01
  • but not toxic if eaten raw – Bamboo Jun 16 '16 at 20:46