growing & crawling: pokeweed

Growing & Crawling

don’t weed out the poke

We've all seen it. Growing in fields and along roadsides, American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) has been in our scenery all of our lives.

Native to almost all of North America, Pokeweed (or pokeplant, poke sallet, inkberry, pokeberry) is only edible as a new plant, when it is 6" or shorter, and only after it has been boiled to remove the toxins it develops as it grows. During this stage, this temporary edible is a good source of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. But caution is needed, for after it leaves its edible stage the entire plant, from tuber to berry, is poisonous and will cause extreme gastrointestinal distress and even death on rare occasions.

Knowing all of that, one might think the pokeweed doesn't really belong in a garden or yard, and if one has small children, that argument is sound, but there are many reasons to keep pokeweed growing when you find it!

Beyond culinary interest for humans, this plant is an important source of food for some of our native birds, including mockingbirds, northern cardinals, catbirds and mourning doves, to name a few. It's such a popular snack that one of the old names for this plant is Pigeonberry. On top of being great for our wildlife the berries have been used for centuries as a very beautiful and intense fuchsia dye. In fact, "phytolacca" means "red dye plant".

By janet douberly

Janet Douberly is a very beautiful and intense employee at Downtown Greens.