ToxicDo not eat
Pokeweed
Phytolacca americana
Magenta stems, black-purple berries. Young shoots were cooked as poke sallet; roots and berries are toxic.
- Marks
- Hot-pink stems; hanging berry clusters
- Size
- 4–10 ft
- Habitat
- Disturbed ground, barn lots, woods openings.
- Season
- Shoots April–May; berries August–October.
- Frequency
- common
A tall herbaceous perennial with smooth red-magenta stems, large alternate leaves, and drooping racemes of berries that ripen from green to ink-purple.
If this is the one
Roots, seeds, and mature leaves are poisonous. Traditional poke sallet uses only very young shoots, boiled in two changes of water — skip it unless you already know the method cold.