The Biography of Elderberry
How did the tree once guarded as sacred become the weed pulled out of the hedge?
PAST
Elder grew where people lived, on the rich disturbed ground at the edge of the settlement. It gave flowers, berries, medicine, dye, and hollow wood for whistles and pipes. Its name comes from sambuca, an old instrument made from its hollow stems.
It sat deep in folklore. The Elder Mother was said to live in the tree, and country people asked her leave before they cut it. To burn elder wood was unlucky. The tree was useful and a little feared, and the fear kept it standing.
PRESENT
Most people walk past it now. They might know elderflower cordial from a bottle, or elderberry syrup from a pharmacy in winter, without knowing the two come from the same tree in the hedge.
The folklore is gone. The tree is cut as scrub. The knowledge that it gives twice a year, and that the gifts are free, has thinned to almost nothing.
FUTURE— you are here
The tree has not changed. It still flowers every June and fruits every September, in hedges, on waste ground, at the edge of car parks. The cordial trade alone pulls millions of litres from wild bushes each year. The plant is waiting where it always was.