Great work again, Fatamorgana. My mystery herb answer is Elder. But it looks a little different to the Sambucus nigra over here so I'm guessing it's a N American variant. S nigra subs. candensis???

Thanks, Flora! Yes, it is the North American species which I think was renamed to S. nigra subs. candensis from Sambucus canadensis. So many plants are being renamed that it is hard sometimes to keep it all straight.

I grew up with this elderberry - as a kid picking berries for my mom to make into pies and jellies. I was always the one roaming the woods, climbing trees, and picking the wild berries. Unfortunately I lost my taste for elderberry in pies and jellies when I ate a load of the fresh berries while picking them. I was pretty sick feeling afterwards and could never bring myself to eat them again. (You're really supposed to cook the fruit to deal with any of the toxins that may be present and I didn't know that.) With 30-35 years between now and then, I've finally gotten past that and have planted elderberries at my place. This was one of my bushes prior to the drought this summer here. Some of the bushes may not have survived/come back and none ended up producing any berries.

FataMorgana

All the elderberries we had were the ones growing wild. [Michigan] Only remember collecting them for mom and grandma once for jelly. The raspberries mostly grew wild. I did love wild strawberries as in one of those singe fruits there was more flavor than a pint of store bought. They were harder to find and we had a large patch plus we picked for the local farmers that we got enough for our family for all jam we could eat for a year, plus all the fresh ones that were so good on homemade biscuit shortbread with lots of homemade whipping cream.