#blue elder

Date: 9/11/2019

Time: 11:30 AM

Location:  Lower Arroyo Park, heading towards the Arroyo Seco Trail

Route:  From parking lot, head east on walkway to the Arroyo Seco Trail.  About 100 ft in, to the north (your left), you’ll see a flat patch of land and a tree in the northeast corner of the field.  Sambucus will be behind (northeast) of the Western sycamore in the middle of that field.

Weather: About 80F, sunny and hot.  The Western sycamore and other taller trees in the area provided a lot of shade, so the understory was at least 5 degrees cooler.

Habitat:  Though there was a lot of empty space, this was a sycamore forest community.  This particular sambucus was growing almost around the largest platanus racemosa in the area.  I saw some ant piles, ground squirrels, and a raven around this area while making this observation.

SAMBUCUS CERULEA - BLUE ELDER

I think the most unique thing about this observation was noticing the state of this blue elder and the fact that it seemed to be growing through a Western sycamore.  One of the main branches of this sambucus was going through the two main branches in the Western sycamore. It looked like this blue elder was on its last leg - most of the leaves had dried up which gave me an opportunity to look at the tree’s branches.  The branches looked like dry firestick succulents, or even like a March Madness bracket - each branch had two or three branches that came off it.  

While most of the tree was dried up, some leaves were still visible - leaves of the sambucus cerulea were oval shaped and long with jaggged edges.  On this tree, most of the remaining leaves were beginning to yellow and wilt.  I saw maybe two or three branches with some leaves still looking pretty strong.  On these branches, I also noticed some creamy white super tiny flowers coming out.  These flowering spots had bunches of flowers each, with the flowers growing really close together.

ᚏ Blue Elder

Blue elder is a large shrub with pale silvery blue berries. The branches are hollow with a spongy pith. The pith is used to clean watchmaking tools, and the hollow branches are made into musical instruments.

I am emptiness. I am the hollowness that becomes music when the wind blows.

Elder

Hyldremoer mother elder wood witch who teaches the worts how to grow. Truly a witches friend syrups, tinctures, and wines of the flowers and berries ward away illness and are antiviral. It’s spirit friend and tutor to the night riding hag and the wort cunning hermit. Her flowers heady akin to jasmine or datura another Venus/saturnian sister. There scent aids the dreamer in there works while the wood calls spirits especially when fashioned into whistles or flutes and rules them as a wand or stave.her spirit fleshed the color of her fruits her disdain as foul as her musty leaves. Elder is a tree ready and awaiting her chance to mentor The willing. In works of conjuration and Banishment healing and curses will work and hag riding.