i believe the native variety is sambucus candensis and the european variety is sambucus nigra the european variety has medicinal qualities .i've felt a cold coming on numerous times and knocked it out overnight .
jim

I don't know the book or the author but I can say that if it's traditional recipes they will definitely be referring to Sambucus nigra, the only elderberry native to the British Isles. There is no tradition of growing elderberries intentionally for fruit, nor of different cultivars, since they are ubiquitous in the wild and grow everywhere including waste land in towns. Only in modern times have various ornamental cultivars been introduced but there is still no real effort made to grow them for fruit that I am aware of. As it says in the link, even commercial companies who make elder products just pick wild material. Personally, I don't much like the scent of elderflowers close up and have almost been sick when I opened a big bag of them that had got rather warm. Once they are made into cordial though it's a different matter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sambucus nigra

The flowers can also be used to make wine, cordials, 'champagne' and sorbets.

Try the "Marge" variety, it's a hybrid of the two.

In the link below you can find some info (and photos) about European (and also American) Elderberry

http://ilgustodellanatura-blog.blogspot.it/2017/07/coltivazione-del-sambuco-sambucus-nigra.html

Sambucus canadensis is known to be the best in terms of bigger harvest, the ripe berries are more delicious, have less to no cyanide which is not toxic compared to Sambucus nigra and it's just been proven that it has much more medicinal properties than Sambucus Nigra.