Be aware that a native plant called pokeweed (Phytolacca Americana), which grows in some gardens and along roadsides, is poisonous.
I have it growing in my garden and on the farm. Until I did recent research on pokeweed for a Garden Club program on herbs, I did not realize how poisonous it is— and not one I want in my garden.
Phytolacca Americanas— known as American pokeweed, pokeweed, poke root, Virginia poke, pigeon berry, inkberry, redweed, red ink plant, poke sallet (salad) or dragonberries— is a poisonous deciduous perennial herb plant. It is native to Eastern North America, the Midwest and the Gulf Coast. It is naturalized in parts of Europe and Asia.
Pokeweed is considered a pest species by farmers in our country because it is poisonous to humans, some pets, and livestock. It is easily found growing in pastures, cleared areas, woodland openings, edge habitats, fencerows and wastelands.
It grows from four to eight feet in height. It has simple, oblong four to twelve-inch long leaves with an unpleasant odor. The leaves are on green to red to purplish stems. One to several branches grow from a crown of a thick, white, fleshy, large taproot.
The flowers are green to white to purplish, about one-fourth-inch wide, in slender terminal racemes about eight inches long. The flowers are perfectly symmetric with four to five sepals and no petals. The seeds have long viability and are able to germinate after many years in the soil.
Flowers are followed by green immature berries and deep purple— almost black— mature berries with crimson juice when ripe. Even when green the berries are dangerous. Children are most often frequently poisoned by eating the attractive raw purple berries. This is something to be aware of if pokeweed is growing in a landscape or garden where children may be playing, walking or hiking.
Many times the flowers and berries are used in flower shows in artistic designs because they make an attractive, eye-catching design. As a judge, when I saw pokeweed used I asked that the design be placed where it could not be reached by visitors, adult or children. Do not bring pokeweed, especially the berries, into your home.
Pokeweed is a traditional southern Appalachian food, however. The leaves and stems of young plants can be eaten. They must be cooked by boiling two or more times, with the water drained and replaced each time. The leaves are said to taste similar to spinach and the stems similar to asparagus. There are Poke Salad Festivals in the South.
Pokeweed is also used as an alternative medicine and as a dietary supplement. But there is no medical evidence that it has any beneficial effect on human health.
In my research I found that the juice of pokeweed can be absorbed through the skin. Contact of plant parts with bare skin should be avoided. It is suggested that gloves be worn with cutting, pulling or removing pokeweed from your garden.
A good thing about pokeweed is that it is a good food source for songbirds. Catbirds, northern mockingbirds, northern cardinals, brown thrashers, mourning doves and cedar waxwings love the berries. Small mammals such as raccoons, opossums, red and gray foxes, and white-footed mice are apparently also tolerant of the toxins.
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