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Discover Nature: Elderberry Blooms

Missouri Department of Conservation

As spring greening leans into summer color in Missouri’s outdoors, one native shrub is beginning to blossom this week.

 

The elderberry shrub (Sambucus canadensis) can grow to 5 – 12 feet tall, and in late summer, produces clusters of dark, berrylike fruits that feed dozens of bird species and other wildlife. This week, though, look for these shrubs’ showy umbels of white, fragrant flowers. 

 

Elderberry grows well in a range of dry to moist soils, and spreads by root suckers to form colonies, making them a great plant to establish in roadside or wildlife plantings, shrub borders, raingardens, or as a natural screen in low, wet areas. 

 

Its leaves are toxic to humans, but the flowers and fruits have medicinal qualities, and have long been used in jellies, pies, fritters, muffins, syrup, tea, and wine, and can even be pickled. 

 

Learn more about elderberry and other Missouri-native shrubs at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s online field guide, or at GrowNative.org.

 

Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Kyle Felling’s work at KBIA spans more than three decades. In 2025, he became KBIA and KMUC's Station Manager. He began volunteering at the station while he was a Political Science student at the University of Missouri. After being hired as a full-time announcer, he served as the long-time local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on KBIA, and was Music Director for a number of years. Starting in 2010, Kyle became KBIA’s Program Director, overseeing on-air programming and operations while training and supervising the station’s on-air staff. During that period, KBIA regularly ranked among the top stations in the Columbia market, and among the most listened to stations in the country. He was instrumental in the launch of KBIA’s sister station, Classical 90.5 FM in 2015, and helped to build it into a strong community resource for classical music. Kyle has also worked as an instructor in the MU School of Journalism, training the next generation of journalists and strategic communicators. In his spare time, he enjoys playing competitive pinball, reading comic books and Joan Didion, watching the Kansas City Chiefs, and listening to Bruce Springsteen and the legendary E Street Band.
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