Dwarf elder

For once the forecast lived up to expectations, with a gloriously sunny start to the day, that didn't cloud over within the first hour or so after sunrise. I decided to make the most of the fine weather and headed off to Pickworth, a small village south-west of Sleaford, where I recorded in three tetrads. 

It was more interesting than I expected, but the highlight for me was finding a very large population of Dwarf Elder Sambucus ebulus at a potentially new location. This is quite a local species, and this is only the second time I've come across it in meanderings.

This herbaceous relative of elder is also known as danewort, dane weed, European dwarf elder, walewort (foreigner plant), elderwort, dwarf elderberry and blood hilder. Several of the names relate to the notion is that it was brought to England by the Danes and planted on the battlefields and graves of their slain countrymen. In accounting for its English name, Sir J. E. Smith says: 'Our ancestors evinced a just hatred of their brutal enemies, the Danes, in supposing the nauseous, fetid and noxious plant before us to have sprung from their blood.'


Like many archaeophytes, dwarf elder has been used as a traditional medicine for treating inflammation-related gastrointestinal disorders, lung and kidney diseases, infections, fever, influenza, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as wounds, insect and snake bites. Preparations of the plant have shown anti-neoplastic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, anti-cancer, anti-ulcerogenic and antioxidant activities. A blue dye and an ink are obtained from this medicinal plant. So, both a beautiful and potentially useful additions to the British flora, whatever its origins.