Blue elder

Family Caprifoliaceae. The high ornamental value of this species during fruiting and flowering makes it desirable for landscaping.

A very ornamental North American species, growing as a tree up to 15 m tall or a large shrub, with slender branches that are red when young. The bark on the trunks is light sandy in color; the leaves are composed of 5–7 oblong leaflets, up to 15 cm long, coarsely serrate, bluish-green, glabrous. The flowers, as in most species of the genus, are yellowish-white, pleasantly scented, in corymbose inflorescences up to 15 cm across; it flowers for about 20 days. Notable are its spherical, dark bluish-black fruits with a glaucous bloom, which make the whole plant very striking in the fruiting season.