Elderberry look-alike?
This is a woody flowering shrub I've encountered while doing spring cleanup and/or clearing overgrown land at a couple of different properties.
The blooms look similar to elder flowers, and maybe it actually is some variety of Sambucus. But I've never seen the flowers actually become elderberries later in the season (trust me, there's NO way I would have missed that.)
Any idea what it is? In at least one of the above locations, it had been installed along a border as a hedge-plant.
One weird quirk: individual mature plants seem to die off unexpectedly and with little provocation. Whenever I encounter it clearing land, there is often a dead trunk to be wrenched up for every four or five live ones.
ETA: A relative just suggested Wild Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) but the leaves don't really look like a match. They look like this:
The blooms look similar to elder flowers, and maybe it actually is some variety of Sambucus. But I've never seen the flowers actually become elderberries later in the season (trust me, there's NO way I would have missed that.)
Any idea what it is? In at least one of the above locations, it had been installed along a border as a hedge-plant.
One weird quirk: individual mature plants seem to die off unexpectedly and with little provocation. Whenever I encounter it clearing land, there is often a dead trunk to be wrenched up for every four or five live ones.
ETA: A relative just suggested Wild Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) but the leaves don't really look like a match. They look like this:
