No chance of further Info? Tree or shrub? Location? Picture of the whole plant? Picture of buds?

Paired, stalked buds suggest Viburnum is a possibility.

Now that you mention it. Maybe even an arrowwood? Thanks!

No further information. They were picked from the ground. What are the dark spots all over them?

Lenticels. Kind of an oxygen exchange port. Many woody plants have them.

Now she is saying they are Sambucus cuttings that she took? Thank you all anyway. There wasn't much at all to go on. I looked at pics of Sambucus and it could match.

Sambucus looks right to me. I trim back a thicket of elderberry in my yard every year and use some to the trimmings for garden stakes. Some of them sprout without any care even though they have been cut and sitting around for awhile. Given the choice, I would wait until early springtime to take the cuttings if in the Chicago area.

Sambucus has a large soft pith that is very obvious on a cut stem. It looks a bit like tan styrofoam. Check a cut end. That should clinch the ID.

I never knew they had such a thick pith. My friend with the cuttings is in northwest Iowa, but the weather there is like mine. I just started growing elderberries last year. What Sambucus are you growing?

The pith is a feature well known by people in the past. Elder was a popular source of whistles. http://www.jonsbushcraft.com/elderwhistle.htm

Whistles sound great, but I want to be able to play my elderberries.

https://urbanorganica.typepad.com/urban_organica/2009/02/making-elderberry-flutes.html

I used to watch Kung Fu with David Carradine and always wanted to make my flute and wander from town to town.

https://youtu.be/ObZEUv-MgFk

Floral, how is it that you manage to move move around undetected by houzz surveillance? Hmmm? Maybe those rumors are true? :)

I heard that you can conjure up magic ,and that you have a little crystal ball that shows you all the plant names. And quite often you mention nearby kettles on the boil..... I'm just putting 2 and 2 together here hehe. Actually you're just brilliant.