Japanese name: ソクズ Scientific name:Sambucus chinensis var. chinensis
[Overview]
A perennial 1–1.5 m tall, found near human dwellings.
It spreads by sending out underground stems.
The base of the stem becomes woody.
The leaves are opposite and odd-pinnately compound, consisting of 5–7 leaflets.
The leaflets are elliptic to lanceolate, 5–17 cm long and 2–6 cm wide, with fine serrations on the margin.
Large corymbose cymes at the branch tips bear many small flowers.
The flowers are 3–4 mm across, and the corolla is white and deeply 5-lobed.
The fruit is a spherical drupe about mm in diameter and ripens red.
[History]
There is a theory that it was introduced from China as a medicinal plant and then became naturalized.
