Chemical Constituents of Elder

All plants are made up of vitamins, mineral, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and all kinds of chemical constituents and Elder is no different. It is these chemical constituents that have the medicinal qualities. Sometimes the constituents that make up a plant are the same in all of it parts like the roots, leaves, bark, flowers, and fruit and sometimes they are different. Many times there is less or more of the same constituents in each individual part of the plant. These plant building blocks are what heal and nourish our bodies. Plant substances are put into three main categories, nutrient, medicinal nutrient, and medicinal. This means that some plants are considered to be foods for normal consumption, some are medicinal foods, and some are strictly medicinal. The plants in the strictly medicinal category need to be used with skill and knowledge because they could by toxic. Elder fits into the medicinal nutrient category.

Drug companies like to take plants and break them down to isolate certain chemical constituents that often turn out to be toxic when ingested alone and the same constituent is harmless when the whole plant is taken as the creator intended. The body seems to know what to do with all the parts of the plant, which ones to utilize and which ones to eliminate. The plants get what they need from the soil and we get what we need from the whole plant. Dr. Shook put it like this "Just as the cells which compose the different organs and tissues select only those elements from the blood, which are their natural foods, and without which, it would not be possible to constantly maintain their peculiar and particular chemical constitution… So, also, do the herbs which supply those particular chemical constituents to the animal or human body select only those elements from the soil which build or maintain their various and peculiar chemical constituents.

The bark of Elder has a soft resin, that is a protective secretion that is not water soluble and hardens in contact with air. It also has viburnic acid that induces perspiration in humans. There is traces of volatile oil, which are the active compounds of aromatic medicinal agents, albumen, fats, wax, grape sugar, various alkalines, earthy salts and gums, which are water soluble secretions that harden in air. There are traces of pectin that binds the plant cell walls together and helps to clean toxins out of our bodies, chlorophyll the green plant pigment, starch which is a principle food storage substance of plants and tannic acid that helps protect the plant and helps our bodies fight infection.

The most important constituent of the flower is a trace of semi-solid volatile oil which is the source of it's odor.

The leaves contain an alkaloid called sambucine, a resin that causes purging. Alkaloids are often used as a chemical defense by the plant kingdom. Glucosides samunigrin is also present in crystallized white felted needles. Fresh leaves have hydrocyanic acid, cane sugar, potassium nitrate, and a crystal like substance called eldrin.

The berries contain sugars, tyrosin, hydrocyanic acid, viburnic acid, and odorous oil combined with malates of potash and lime. Maleic and tartatic acids which have an alkalizing and cleansing effect in the body is also in the berries. They are rich in vitamin c, vitamin a, calcium, phosphorous, and potassium. Six to ten drops of Elder berry tincture each day provides all the potassium the body needs. There are traces of protein, riboflavin, niacin, and iron. They have 72 calories per 100 grams of berries.

It is always interesting to know what constituents are in plants so then you have an idea of what to expect medicinally and nutritionally from them.