Sambucus racemosa

As treated by Kartesz (1994), Sambucus racemosa is considered a wide-ranging species of both Eurasia (ssp. racemosa) and North America (ssp. pubens). Kartesz (1999) still treats S. racemosa as a whole the same way but now considers most North American material indistinct from the Eurasian (Sambucus racemosa var. racemosa) with only some material of western North America treated as distinct at the varietal level as S. racemosa var. melanocarpa. That treatment is followed here. In other treatments, the North American populations have been considered distinct from the Eurasian, and various taxa have been recognized within the North American group, e.g., S. racemosa ssp. pubens var. arborescens, S. racemosa ssp. pubens var. microbotrys (S. microbotrys of some floras), S. racemosa ssp. pubens var. arborescens (S. callicarpa of some floras).

Widespread in North America along streambanks, and in moist habitats from foothills to 3200 feet.