Sambucus javanica seed

LATIN NAME: Sambucus javanica

COMMON NAME: Chinese Elder

The Chinese elder is a handsome, upright, many-branched, deciduous shrub of the moist places, and its fine, pinnate leaves of the many oval, toothed leaflets and its fine, flat, creamy-white heads of the many small flowers, followed by the small, round, red or black, fleshy berries, have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as an upright, many-branched, deciduous shrub, reaching up to three metres or so, with the upright, many-branched stems bearing the opposite, pinnate leaves of the many oval, pointed, toothed leaflets and, through the late spring, the fine, flat, creamy-white heads of the many small, fragrant flowers, followed by the small, round, red or black, fleshy, many-seeded berries. It is a species of the flowering shrub in the moschatel family, and it is native to the moist places of the eastern Asia, while it grows in the open, moist places, and it is known as the Chinese elder.

In the moschatel family it is the flat-headed, berry-bearing elder of the moist places, a shrub the birds of the region have always known well.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Chinese elder roots and parts are a familiar subject in the traditional plant chemistry of the eastern Asia, and the constituents have been worked through by the researchers across the world. The woodland botanists have mapped its place in the moschatel family and the moist-place flora, and the wildlife ecologists have watched the birds come to the small, round, red or black berries through the summer. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the wildlife garden keep it in their catalogues for the flat, creamy-white heads and the berry crop.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the wildlife garden, the Chinese elder is the flat-headed shrub that feeds everything. Its creamy-white flower heads feed the bees and the insects, its red or black berries feed the birds, and the dense, leafy growth gives cover and shelter through the year. The traditional use of the region keeps the plant in the old practice, and it grows well in the moist, open, well-drained ground. Creamy-white, berry-bearing and bird-friendly.

Scatter the seeds onto the surface of pots of moist, loamy soil and just cover them with a fine layer of grit, stand the pots in the open air through the winter so they feel the cold, then keep them gently watered in a bright spot and they’ll be sprouting in the spring.