The elderberries that grow wild in these mountains will look more like those in the painting above when they are ripe. I took the photo below about two weeks ago, so maybe they are ripe by now.
Jam can be made from the berries, but all other parts of the plant are poisonous, except for the tiny flowers. If a mammal eats the berries raw, the berry seeds are toxic, but birds can eat the berries and suffer no adverse reactions. I tried making some jam once, years ago, but the berries of the species that grow in these mountains are so tiny it took me forever to pick enough to make the jam! I've read that one can make a sort of sparking wine from the blossoms, but I've never tried that. When I was young I helped my daddy and grandfather make moonshine (a clear liquor distilled from corn), but that's a story for another time...
