Sambucus racemosa subsp. sieboldiana (Japanese red elder, "Niwatoko")

Japanese name: ニワトコ （接骨木、庭常、庭床）
Scientific name: Sambucus racemosa subsp. sieboldiana

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub to small tree 2–6 m tall, found at sunny forest edges and roadsides and preferring moist places.
The trunk is thick, and the plant branches freely from the base.
Old bark develops thick cork and splits lengthwise.
The leaves are opposite and odd-pinnately compound, 8–30 cm long, consisting of 5–7 leaflets, with a leaf stalk 2–5 cm long.
Leaves on branches that bear no flowers reach 45 cm including a leaf stalk of about 8 cm, and have 7–13 leaflets.
The leaflets are elliptic to lanceolate, 3–10 cm long and 1–3.5 cm wide.
The upper surface of the leaf is often tinged with purple, and the margin has fine serrations.
Paniculate cymes 3–10 cm in both length and width at the tips of the current year's branches bear many small flowers.
The flowers are 3–5 mm across, and the corolla is deeply 5-lobed and cream to pale purple.
The fruit is a spherical to ovoid drupe 3–4 mm long that ripens dark red and contains 3 seeds.

[History]
In old times it was also called Yamatazu and Miyatsukogi, and it appears in the Man'yoshu.

[Uses]
The leaves, flowers, branches and roots are used medicinally, and the new shoots are eaten as wild vegetables.
The fruit is made into fruit liqueur.
The pith of the branches is used as a supporting material when cutting sections for microscope observation.
In the past, kezuribana (flowers made by thinly shaving this wood) were offered to the gods and used in Shinto rituals.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by cuttings.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, fertile soil that is moderately moist.
It tolerates partial shade and is easy to grow.

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