Sambucus mexicana

 

Sambucus mexicana (elderberry) (sauco)

Sambucus coerulea

Adoxaceae

  • As a large tree with opposite, divided leaves and flat-topped clusters of white blossoms, this Arizona wildflower is quite distinct from all others so far mentioned. This is the only elder in the state which reaches beyond the mountains. It has many different pollinators, making it a generalist. Both the flowers and fruits have been used as folk medicines, and when cooked, the fruits are edible or suitable for wine-making. The Mexican elder flowers from March into early July. It frequently grows next to streams and irrigation ditches. "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988"
  • Seed in pots for transplanting, softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings treated with IBA rooting hormone and misted/ Use fresh seed. Clean pulp off seed immediately and air dry in sun. Scarify seed in sulfuric acid 1-15 min or warm-stratify for 2 months at temperatures of 70-80 F./Time of planting: spring-summer. "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".
  • Shrub, sometimes treelike, to 8 m. tall; leaves pinnate, the leaflets 5-7, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, serrate except at the entire apex, spreading from rachis; cyme flat-topped, 5-25 cm. broad; flowers white to yellowish; berries blue with a whitish, waxy bloom; seeds ovoid to triangular-ovoid, transversely rugose. Along streams in the lowlands, but occurring away from streams in cooler uplands to an elevation of 5,000 feet; throughout California west of the Sierra Nevada; north to British Columbia, east to Utah. "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

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Lupinus arizonicus

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Lupinus sparsiflorus

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Geraea canescens

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