Several years ago, when Mary Alice had a very bad cold, with a croupy cough, a friend gave her a homemade cough medicine that was made from elderberries.

Many of nature’s berries will be ripening during September, and one is the elderberry. The fruit of an elderberry bush has a bitter taste. On June 21, I wrote in my diary, “Elderberry bushes in bloom,” and on August 23, I wrote “Elderberries have been ripe for about a week.”

My earliest memory of the elderberry bush is that of my dad taking my grandfather to pick the berries. This was an annual outing so that my grandfather could make wine from the berries. Throughout the winter months, my grandfather would disappear from time to time; however, we all knew that he had gone down to the cellar to sneak a sip from his home-made brew.

Later, my brothers and I learned that the branches of the elderberry bush made great pea shooters and whistles. The elderberry shoots have a soft pith that can be easily removed.

While gathering information for this article, I learned that the ancient Greeks made a musical instrument known as a stambuke from the elderberry stems. The generic name of the elder is sambucus, which is derived from stambuke, the musical instrument. The correct name of the bush is elder, with the common name being elderberry.

The elderberry has been involved in human history for centuries. At one time, the elderberry was considered to have such great healing powers that it was known as a remedy against all infirmities. Some of the beliefs were that the bush provided the wood for Jesus Christ’s cross; if a person saw the bush in a dream, it meant illness and also, if gathered on the last day of April and hung on windows and doors, the plant had the power to ward off witches.

In my research, I also learned that my brothers and I had been in some degree of danger when using the elderberry peashooters. The shrub contains cyanogenic glucoside, which is a substance that releases cyanide and an unidentified cathartic. The danger comes mainly from the roots, stems and leaves. The encyclopedia stated that children have been known to become ill from playing with elderberry whistles. The ripe berries are harmless when cooked, containing only a small trace of cyanide. Any wine, jelly or pies made from the cooked berries will have no adverse effect on a person. Apple seeds also contain cyanide but in such low amounts that there is no danger when eating an apple.

The flowers of the elderberry bush bloom in early June. They are stark white, with five tiny petals that grow in flat-topped clusters. The flowers are followed by the dark purple to black berries. Elderberries contain three to five large seeds that are about 3/16th of an inch in diameter. A host of songbirds and game birds eat the berries.

There are about a dozen species of elderberries in the United States and about 40 species worldwide. The American or common elderberry, which is the most prevalent in our area, grows along roadsides, stream banks and in other moist areas.

The elderberry seems to have fallen out of favor with today’s generation. At one time, the elderberry worked its way into every aspect of our lives. The berries were used as a hair dye and for medicinal purposes. The flowers were brewed to make a tea, and elderberry-flower water was a home-spun elegance that was found on a lady’s dressing table. Dried elderberry flowers were tossed into bath water, supposedly, to soften the skin and soothe irritable nerves. Dyes were also made from the berries and the leaves.

In Portugal, sailors found that elderberry juice added to cheap wines gave the appearance and taste of a more expensive wine. This practice became so popular that the government outlawed the elderberry and prohibited growing elderberry shrubs.

My grandfather also made wine from the dandelion flowers. Usually, we see dandelions in the spring, however, some will appear in our lawns during autumn. At one time, I thought that every plant, from the skunk cabbage, in early spring, to the witch hazel, in autumn, bloomed when good and ready. Perhaps, you also thought that rainfall and temperature were factors that controlled the blooming of our flowers. However, I have learned that, in order to bloom, flower buds must be exposed to light for a certain number of hours and minutes per day. This sensitivity to length of light is so critical that changes of only minutes will determine whether certain flowers will or will not open. The intensity of light doesn’t make much difference.

It is the continuous duration of light that counts. If a plant is keyed to bloom on a day’s length of ten hours and alternating with 14 hours of darkness, it will not bloom if the ten hours of light are divided into two five-hour periods, with only an hour of darkness between the two five-hour periods.

A flower will wait on the day’s length regardless of where the flower is located. For instance, the dandelion plants that were not mature enough to bloom earlier in the summer will not bloom until the day’s length of sunlight is just right, not too short nor too long.

How are we able to see a dandelion flower blooming in the fall? Well, the exact day’s length of the dandelion flower occurs again in the fall as the summer’s long days again become shorter. When the light’s length reaches the correct length, the flowers bloom.

In The Old Farmers Almanac, I read that on the first day of March, our day’s length was eleven hours and 14 minutes. The days then became longer until June 21 (the first day of summer) when the day’s length was 15 hours and 18 minutes. From that point on, the days began to get shorter. On October 12, we will again reach a day’s length of 11 hours and 14 minutes. Any flowers set to bloom at this exact length of light will again bloom.

So, don’t be surprised to see some flowers blooming in what appears to be the wrong season. Also, remember the warning about making whistles from branches of the elderberry bush. Nature is indeed ingenious and intriguing, but at times, she can be unforgiving.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.