medicinal and edible wild plant grows in North America, Europe, western Asia, and North Africa. In California, the elder grows in wet places below 3000 meters and is a resident of Sonoma County and Bodega Bay. Once pollinated by insects, especially hoverflies, the flowers ripen into round black berries coated with a white wax. The berry clusters resemble constellations of little bluish planets (picture). We have two species of elder in California: blue and red. The red elder (Sambucus racemosa) is not