As many of you know, the elder flower is a great ally when it comes to hay fever. Simply drop an inflorescence into a cup of boiling water. Inhale the steam and then drink for a very soothing effect on itchy mucous membranes. The elderflower will be out soon, and you might be interested in the results of a study on the various parts of the elder tree(1). To my surprise, and I believe to that of the scientists too, it was the flower which proved to be the most toxic to the bacteria they tested, with particular toxicity against MRSA.
I used this information in a prescription recently for someone who had a very bad chest infection, and he told me that the results were almost immediate.
(1)^ Hearst C, McCollum G, Nelson D, Ballard L M, Millar B C, Goldsmith C E, Rooney P J, Loughrey A, Moore J E, and Rao J R. Antibacterial activity of elder (Sambucus nigra L.) flower or berry against hospital pathogens. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 4(17), pp. 1805-1809, 4 September, 2010 DOI: 10.5897/JMPR10.147 (PDF)