On 22/3/08 14:20, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

Sacha says...
I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


I was wondering why a woman has just gone hurtling past the
window sitting on a broom :-)

Is there some folk law associated with cutting down
elderberry trees?

Absolutely. They're the witches trees and the witches don't like it if you
cut them down! In other folklore, if you cut one a witch will bleed to
death and yet others believed that planting an elder outside a house
protected it from witches. Some believed that witches could transform
themselves into elder trees.
It's quite peculiar that so much myth - and so much of it different - has
attached itself to that particular plant.
Some believe it's the original Judas tree from which he hanged himself and
still others wouldn't allow it to be used to me furniture or cradles.

--
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'