The effect of maturation on chemical composition and harvest of fruits of diverse elderberry interspecific hybrids
Introduction Elderberries (the genus Sambucus) are a highly heterogeneous group of deciduous shrubs or small trees that can be found in sunlight-exposed locations in almost every continent of the world (Veberic et al., 2009). Wild elderberry species originate mostly from the northern hemisphere, while their semi-domesticated and cultivated relatives are present throughout temperate, subtropical and tropical regions, usually close to human settlements (Ritter and McKee, 1964). The Sambucus Initially, it was ranked in the Caprifoliaceae family (Donoghue et al., 2001), but newer genetic research places it in the Adoxaceae family (Jacobs et al., 2010; Anton et al., 2013), which includes between 5 and 30 species, depending on taxonomy. The most widely used taxonomy is that proposed by Bolli (1994), which recognizes only nine species, including the black elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.). The black elderberry (S. nigra) is the most widespread elderberry species in Europe (Mikulic-Petkovsek et al., 2016). In general, elderberry shrubs are multi-stemmed with small, relatively weak branches that can reach up to 10 m in height.