We were quite mystified about a month or so ago when we saw, for the first time, an immature tree that seemed to have suddenly grown in an area of the ravine we've long been familiar with, but we just couldn't make out what it might be. It drew our attention primarily because of the panicles of white flowers that it sported. At first I thought it might be related to sumacs because of its foliage. So I tried to do some sleuthing on line, but came up empty.

At one point I happened to mention its presence to a woman unfamiliar to us who had been walking by the trail at the very time we had paused briefly to consider it yet again. She told us she had one growing in her backyard, but it had appeared spontaneously and she had no idea what it was. Which seemed strange, but these things do happen; gardens sometimes welcome strangers.

Now, however, we know what that tree is. We were walking through the woods with our oldest son and his wife and I asked her if she had any idea what it might be? She thought about it for all of a second, and then said from the berries it hosted (developed from the flowers we'd seen a month or so ago) it was likely an Elderberry. We had no familiarity with the tree though the name was familiar.

Our daughter-in-law has a robust knowledge of wildflowers and trees, and she recalled seeing them fifty years ago as a child on her parents' farm in Nova Scotia. When I get the chance, when they happen to be visiting with us, I often consult her on such botanical matters; sometimes she solves my puzzles, sometimes they remain puzzles. On this occasion she extended my botanical reference guide.

And I was delighted. The flowers, she later informed me, were used for making Elderberry wine. Unless they were allowed to develop into berries, and then jam made of them. Or they were baked into pies. Her store of knowledge about all manner of arcane subjects never fails to impress me.

From Google I was informed that the Elderberry tends to grow wild in Southern Ontario. They must be extending their range thanks to climate change, because Ottawa is in Eastern (south-eastern) Ontario and the weather experienced here is much harsher than what southern Ontario normally basks in.