Scientists have discovered that elderberry has been known to man since the prehistoric era, and elderberry recipes were commonly used as natural medicines in ancient Egypt.
Hippocrates, the “father of medicine” from ancient Greece depicted it as his “medicine chest” because of its numerous health benefits.
The elderberry juice has been used as hair dye by the Romans, and the wood of the elderberry tree has been used to make combs, toys, pegs for shoemakers, needles for weaving musical instruments, and skewers for butchers. The Native Americans used this plant as a natural cure, body paint, ink, for jewelry and musical instruments, hunting whistles, and much more.
During the 1995 Panama flu epidemic, the government used it as a natural way to fight the flu, and it reduced its severity and thus helped to end the epidemic.
Elderberry is native to Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia. Sambucus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae, and the berries and flowers are powerful natural medicines. The plant has deciduous leaves, white flowers (elderflowers) and berries that turn from green to red to black as they ripen.
Other common names for Sambucus nigra are European elder, European elderberry, black elder, and European black elderberry. The flowers contain 0.3 percent of an essential oil composed of free fatty acids and alkanes, and the fruit contains rutin, quercetin, kaempferol, phenolic acids, and anthocyanins. Elderberry is also high in flavonoids, which are powerful antioxidants that prevent cellular damages, as well as anthocyanidins, chemical compounds which have immunostimulant effects.
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