July 23rd, 2008
Summer
The sight and scent of black elderberry in the Herb Garden give me a momentary touch of vertigo. The flower clusters covering the towering shrub in creamy-white domes, buzzing with bees of all kinds, just epitomize summer for me. It seems odd but wonderful to stand next to them in the heart of University Circle, with Severance Hall, the Peter B. Lewis Building and the Museum of Art radiating culture and sophistication a few yards away.
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The sweet vanilla/almond fragrance expands in the hot sun, and transports me back in years, to the muddy streambeds of Knox County, Ohio. My friends and I waded barefoot and kneedeep in every creek and ditch we could find, ducking under the rank, weedy shrubs to dodge a sun so hot it was like a slap on the neck. Chasing tadpoles, swatting mosquitos, picking wild raspberries near the train tracks, and always getting home late for dinner.
Memories like that are thick with the sweet scent of elderflowers. Although the purple berries cook up into nice jams, pies and a unique wine, I don’t recall ever picking the plant except to twirl the flowers around until they wilted. It’s probably just as well, since elderberry leaves, stems and uncooked fruits are poisonous, causing nausea and abdominal pain. The flowers and other plant parts have a history of dye and medicinal uses as well.
The USDA PLANTS database lists black elderberry as a European introduction, but it was, and is, a familiar sight in the heart of the Ohio countryside and the heart of Cleveland too.
Posted by Ann McCulloh
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