A large clustered shrub or tree, 10-12 feet tall. The leaves are opposite, divided into 5~9 lanceolate leaflets and sharply serrate. Small cream to white flowers are in large flat-topped umbels. The berry-like fruit is nearly black, with powdery coating that gives a blue cast. Found throughout North America in damp places, woods, valleys.

Flower heads can be dipped in batter and fried. They contain rutin, vitamins, minerals, and oils. The berries are a rich source of vitamin A and C. They make excellent jelly and syrup, sour eaten raw. It is a cathartic, diaphoretic, diuretic, febrifuge, purgative, and stimulant. Juice from the green leaves is used externally and can alleviate the effects of poison oak. Leaves should not be taken internally, good in salves and ointments for ulcers, infected wounds, gangrene. A tea from the flowers is used for colds, flu, fevers, appendicitis, sore eyes, skin diseases, internal ulcers. Used with peppermint, it is even better. The root bark tea used historically for headache, mucous congestion and labor in childbirth. Seeds of the red berry elder (S. racemosa) are toxic. Use only seedless berries in any elder species, cook berries before eating.