Elderberry as a Medicinal Plant

Folk medicine has been around for millennia exploiting first wild then cultivated plants to prevent or cure a myriad of illnesses. Black elder have been used for centuries in Europe (French 1651), northern Africa, and some parts of Asia for such purposes as to keep the evil spirits away, to prevent or cure numerous ailments and health problems. Early settlers brought some of this knowledge to America where a closely related plant, the American elder, could easily be found in the wild. Native Americans also have a tradition of using elderberry for its healing properties (Borchers et al. 2000) and particularly to treat fever and rheumatism (Moerman 1986). While many of the reported effects lack adequate scientific validation, there are an increasing number of studies supporting important medicinal or therapeutic properties associated with American and black elders. Despite this century old tradition, American elder remains relatively unknown to the public and the industry alike. In contrast, black elder production and processing are well established in Europe were an impressive array of food (pies, jellies, jams, wines...) and medicinal (supplements, extracts, syrups, lozenges...) products are available. The more extensive and ancient use of black elder is supported by a rich documentation; American elder has been much less studied. However, the taxonomic closeness of these two related plants is such that they share common properties and will be treated as one. Their alleged and demonstrated medicinal properties will be critically discussed in this paper. When necessary, significant differences will be stated.