The varieties are not always clearly distinct. Some specimens combine the erect inflorescences of var. rigida with the long pedicels of var. americana. Such intermediate plants can be seen as far north as coastal Delaware, sometimes growing with var. americana.
Collectors of Phytolacca americana should record carefully whether the inflorescences are erect, drooping, or intermediate between the extremes.
The fruits and seeds of Phytolacca americana are eaten and disseminated by birds and, probably, mammals. They are said to be an important source of food for mourning doves (A. C. Martin et al. 1951).
Phytolacca americana is well known to herbalists, cell biologists, and toxicologists. According to some accounts, its young leaves, after being boiled in two waters (the first being discarded) to deactivate toxins, are edible, even being available canned (they pose no culinary threat to spinach). Young shoots are eaten as a substitute for asparagus. Ripe berries were used to color wine and are eaten (cooked) in pies. Poke is used as an emetic, a purgative, a suppurative, a spring tonic, and a treatment for various skin maladies, especially hemorrhoids.
Pokeweed mitogen is a mixture of glycoprotein lectins that are powerful immune stimulants, promoting T- and B-lymphocyte proliferation and increased immun-oglobulin levels. "Accidental exposure to juices from Phytolacca americana via ingestion, breaks in the skin, and the conjunctiva has brought about hematological changes in numerous people, including researchers studying this species" (G. K. Rogers 1985). Poke antiviral proteins are of great interest for their broad, potent antiviral (including Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and antifungal properties (P. Wang et al. 1998). Saponins found in P. americana and P. dodecandra are lethal to the molluscan intermediate host of schistosomiasis (J. M. Pezzuto et al. 1984). The toxic compounds in P. americana are phytolaccatoxin and related triterpene saponins, the alkaloid phytolaccin, various histamines, and oxalic acid. When ingested, the roots, leaves, and fruits may poison animals, including Homo sapiens. Symptoms of poke poisoning include sweating, burning of the mouth and throat, severe gastritis, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, blurred vision, elevated white-blood-cell counts, unconsciousness, and, rarely, death.
"Poke" is thought to come from "pocan" or "puccoon," probably from the Algonquin term for a plant that contains dye.
The American Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana L., (Phytolaccaceae) is commonly known as simply pokeweed. It is an herbaceous perennial plant. Pokeweed is indigenous to the eastern half of the United States, but now occurs all over North America and Canada. Pokeweed is used for various reasons. Some say pokeweed holds medicinal powers, but there is no evidence of benefits on the human health to back it up.Even though Pokeweed is poisonous, there are positive benefits as food and medicine.
The American Pokeweed is a large plant, ranging from anywhere up to 8 feet tall. According to Larry W. Mitich, “Young pokeweed is light green in color, with large, spear-shaped leaves branching off from a central stalk.This stalk turns to a dark purple as the plant reaches adulthood” (Mitich). This plant has a purplish/red color stem and branches with green leaves and green flower buds. These flowers are typically white or green with no petals and 4-5 sepals and grow in large clusters. Referring to Larry Steckels’ article Common Pokeweed, an assistant professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Tennessee, “The distinctive clusters of berries are green when immature and ripen to a dark purple or black. Reproduction is by seeds” (Steckel).Mr. Larry Steckel also included, “Flowering occurs from June to October” (Steckel). Pokeweed tends to grow straight up, producing many branches. These branches produce simple, entire leaves with alternatively placed long petioles near the stalk. The American Pokeweed reproduces only by its own seeds. These seeds can live and germinate in the soil for a few years
Phytolacca americana is native to North America and can be found across the continent. It is found from Washington south to California, east through Arizona to the Atlantic coast, and throughout the Southeast. It is also found north through Nebraska, Minnesota, New England, and even as far north as Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick Canada. It is absent from the Rocky Mountain states, the Dakotas, and Western Canada. While there are several species of Phytolacca found all over the world, P. americana, only occurs naturally in North America (Kartesz 2015).
It is usually common throughout its range being that it naturally occupies edge habitats such as, forest openings, forest edges, old fields, along fence rows, and sometimes in gardens or yards as a weed (Taylor). This tendency to occupy edge habitats is what makes it so common, since people tend to create edge habitats all the time by the way of construction and agriculture.
American pokeweed is considered a weed in much of its native range, but has been used for landscaping and cultivated for medicinal purposes in the old world. The native birds of Europe and Asia have taken a liking to the plant’s berries and have spread it outside of its cultivated areas. It has now become naturalized in both Europe and Asia, where it has proven to be invasive (eFloras 2008).
Members of the pokeweed family are found around the world in tropical and subtropical distributions with a few species that occur in temperate areas (Taylor). The native species consist of two different species. One species is found throughout the majority of North America and the second species is found in California and the southwestern U.S.(Taylor) It is found at forest edge, in fence rows, under power lines,pastures, old fields, forest openings and other similar areas.(Taylor)It is dispersed by birds primarily, which is why it can be found underneath some of these structures.
In the Arid West region pokeweed can be found in both wetlands and non-wetlands. Areas found outside of western North America pokeweed usually is found in non-wetlands but may occur in wetland areas. (USDA)
The water usage amount for this plant is medium and it requires a “part shade’’ light requirement. (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) Soil that is moist is best suited for growth in pokeweed plants. (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)
Pokeweed plants produce berries which contain toxins. Birds eat these birds and seem to be immune to these toxins. The birds disperse the seeds, which can survive in the soil for up to 40 years. Pokeweed is an aggressive and efficient colonizer of disturbed areas. (Missouri Department of Conservation)
An interesting study showed the effects of placement of the plant in relation to what animals ate the seeds from it. The study showed that if placed together in groups then the most likely benefit were the rodents. Those that were spread apart, they seemed to have more invertebrates eating their seed. Birds were also tested but they did not seem to have preference in the spacing. As stated above, birds are the main consumer of these berries and play a large part in the dispersal of seeds into the soil (Orrock).
Pokeweed is a very useful plant to many mammals, birds, and pollinators. Syrphid Flies, Halictine Bees, and some species of small birds are some of the animals that utilize pokeweed. The Halictine Bees use pokeweed as a source of both nectar and pollen in making honey. The other pollinators only collect nectar as a source of nutrition through consumption (Hilty).
Mammals and birds also use pokeweed as a source of nutrients aside from nectar. The foliage and berries can be eaten by some animals. Although, to some animals, pokeweed is toxic. It has been known to kill some birds and animals that consume it on an individual basis, no whole species of birds is known to be effected.It is also poisonous to humans. The toxic portions of the plant affect portions of the red blood cells located in the animal. This has not stopped humans from consuming the plant. It has been consumed over decades in the eastern United States, even more common in the Appalachian region. The leaves are cooked multiple times, two to three generally, to rid the plant of toxicity. Then, pokeweed is prepared one of two ways. The first is known as “Poke Salad.” Poke Salad is prepared by scrambling eggs and bacon with pokeweed on the third or fourth cooking of the plant. The other way is serving pokeweed like any greens, after multiple cookings (Hilty).
Another way pokeweed is useful is by helping migratory birds navigate. Scientist believe, but have not been able to completely prove that they use the bright red, purple stems combined with the dark blue berries of ripened pokeweed plants to tell what time of year and their location (Hilty).
Finally, the native Americans used pokeweed berries for dyes. It was used for many years as food dyes. After cooking the berries multiple times, they are edible just like the leaves (Hilty).
Phytolacca americana, also known as American pokeweed, pokeweed, poke sallet, dragonberries, and inkberry, is a poisonous, herbaceous perennial plant in the pokeweed family Phytolaccaceae. This pokeweed grows 1 to 3 metres (4 to 10 ft).[4] It has simple leaves on green to red or purplish stems and a large white taproot. The flowers are green to white, followed by berries which ripen through red to purple to almost black which are a food source for songbirds such as gray catbird, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, and brown thrasher, as well as other birds and some small non-avian animals (i.e., for species that are unaffected by its mammalian toxins).
Pokeweed is native to eastern North America, the Midwest, and the South, with more scattered populations in the far West where it was introduced.[5] It is also naturalized in parts of Europe and Asia. It is considered a pest species by farmers.[6] Pokeweed is poisonous to humans, dogs, and livestock. In spring and early summer, shoots and leaves (not the root) are edible with proper cooking (hence the common name "poke sallet"[7]), but later in the summer they become deadly, and the berries are also poisonous. It is used as an ornamental in horticulture, and it provokes interest for the variety of its natural products (toxins and other classes), for its ecological role, its historical role in traditional medicine, and for some utility in biomedical research (e.g., in studies of pokeweed mitogen). In the wild, it is easily found growing in pastures, recently cleared areas, and woodland openings, edge habitats such as along fencerows, and in wastelands.
The first word in its scientific name, Phytolacca americana, comes from the Greek words phyton (plant) and lacca (crimson lake)—-a reference to its deep-reddish-purple fruits. The second denotes this plant as native to America. The common name "poke" is derived from puccoon, pocan, or poughkone (from an Algonquin name for the plant). Its berries were once used to make ink, hence its other sometimes-used common name, inkberry.
Pokeweed is a member of the family Phytolaccaceae, and is a large herbaceous perennial plant,[8] growing up to 2.5 metres (8 feet) in height over the course of a summer.[8] One to several branches grow from the crown of a thick, white, fleshy taproot; Michael D. K. Owen describes the branches as "stout, smooth, [and] green to somewhat purplish". Simple, entire leaves with long petioles are alternately arranged along the stem.[8]
Pokeweeds reproduce only by their large, glossy black, lens-shaped seeds, which are contained in a fleshy, 10-celled, purple-to-near-black berry that has crimson juice. The flowers are perfect, radially symmetric, white or green, with 4–5 sepals and no petals. The flowers develop in elongated clusters termed racemes.[8][9] The seeds have long viability, able to germinate after many years in the soil.
Plant Type: Perennial herbaceous plant which can reach a height of 3 m (10 ft)[10] but is usually 1.2 to 2 m (4 to 6+1⁄2 ft). The plant must be a few years old before the root grows large enough to support this size. The stem is usually red late in the season. There is an upright, erect central stem early in the season, which changes to a spreading, horizontal form later with the weight of the berries. The plant dies back to the roots each winter. The stem has a chambered pith.
Leaves: The leaves are alternate with coarse texture with moderate porosity. Leaves can reach 41 centimetres (16 inches) in length. Each leaf is entire. Leaves are medium green and smooth, with a distinct odor that many characterize as unpleasant.
Flowers: The flowers have 5 regular parts with upright stamens and are up to 5 millimetres (1⁄4 in) wide. They have white petal-like sepals without true petals, on white pedicels and peduncles in an upright or drooping raceme, which darken as the plant fruits. Blooms first appear in early summer and continue into early fall.
Fruit: A shiny dark purple berry held in racemose clusters on pink pedicels with a pink peduncle. Pedicels without berries have a distinctive rounded five part calyx. Fruits are round with a flat indented top and bottom. Immature berries are green, turning white and then blackish purple.
Root: Thick central taproot which grows deep and spreads horizontally. Rapid growth. Tan cortex, white pulp, moderate number of rootlets. Transversely cut root slices show concentric rings. No nitrogen fixation ability.[11][12]
The entire pokeweed plant contains triterpenes such as phytolaccagenin, jaligonic acid, phytolaccagenic acid (phytolaccinic acid), esculentic acid, and pokeberrygenin (in the berries),[13] as well as the saponins phytolaccasides A, B, D, E, and G, and phytolaccasaponins B, E, and G (in the roots).[14][15]
The roots also contain other triterpenoids such as oleanolic acid, α-spinasterol and its glucoside, α-spinasteryl-β-D-glucoside, and a palmityl-derivative, 6-palmytityl-α-spinasteryl-6-D-glucoside, as well as a similarly functionalized stigmasterol derivative, 6-palmityl-Δ7-stigmasterol-Δ-D-glucoside.[14] Pokeweed berries also contain betalain pigments such as betanin and others.[16] The leaves contain a number of common flavonols.[16] Seeds of pokeweed contain the phenolic aldehyde caffeic aldehyde.[17] Pokeweed also contains lectins, such as pokeweed mitogen.[18]
Phytolacca americana or pokeweed is also known as pokeberry,[8][11] poke root,[11] Virginia poke (or simply poke),[11][19] pigeonberry,[11][19] inkberry,[8] redweed or red ink plant.[19] When used in Chinese medicine, it is called chuíxù shānglù (垂序商陸).[11][20][21] As food, it is called poke sallet, or more commonly poke salad, sometimes spelled polk salad.
Pokeweed is native to eastern North America, the Midwest, the Gulf Coast, and the West Coast of the US.[22] It is an introduced weed in Japan.
Birds are unaffected by the poisons in the berries,[8] and eat them, dispersing the seeds. The berries are reported to be a good food source for songbirds and other bird species and small animals that are unaffected by its toxins.[23] Distribution via birds is thought to account for the appearance of isolated plants in areas otherwise free from pokeweed.[8]
Pokeweed berries are reported to be a good food source for songbirds such as gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinals), brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), other bird species including mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), and cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). Small mammals apparently tolerant of its toxins include raccoon, opossum, red and gray fox, and the white-footed mouse.[23][24]
Pokeweed is used as a sometime food source by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia).[25]
All parts of the plant can be toxic and pose risks to human and mammalian health.[8][26][27][28][29] Toxins are found in highest concentration in the rootstock, then leaves and stems, then the ripe fruit.[26][27] The plant generally gets more toxic with maturity,[26] with the exception of the berries, which are dangerous even while green.[29]
Children may be attracted by clusters of berries.[8] Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) notes:[26]
Children are most frequently poisoned by eating raw berries. Infants are especially sensitive and have died from eating only a few raw berries. Adults have been poisoned, sometimes fatally, by eating improperly prepared leaves and shoots, especially if part of the root is harvested with the shoot, and by mistaking the root for an edible tuber. Research with humans has also shown that common pokeweed can cause mutations (possibly leading to cancer) and birth defects. Since the juice of pokeweed can be absorbed through the skin, contact of plant parts with bare skin should be avoided.
Pokeweed is to be avoided during pregnancy and children consuming even one berry may require emergency treatment.[12] The plant sap can cause dermatitis in sensitive people.[12]
The plant is not palatable to most animals and is avoided unless little else is available or it is present in contaminated hay, but horses, sheep and cattle have been poisoned by eating fresh leaves or green fodder and pigs have been poisoned by eating the roots.[26]
If death occurs, it is usually due to respiratory paralysis.[8]
Pokeweed poisoning was common in eastern North America during the 19th century, especially from the use of tinctures as antirheumatic preparations and from ingestion of berries and roots that were mistaken for parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, or horseradish.[30]
Owen states:[8]
If taken internally, pokeweed is a slow acting but a violent emetic. Vomiting usually starts about 2 hours after the plant or parts of it have been eaten. Severe cases of poisoning result in purging, spasms, and sometimes convulsions. If death occurs, it is usually due to paralysis of the respiratory organs. Cases of animal or human poisoning should be handled by a veterinarian or a physician.
The OARDC staff scientists note that symptoms of poisoning include "a burning sensation in the mouth, salivation, gastrointestinal cramps, and vomiting and bloody diarrhea", and that depending upon the amount consumed, more severe symptoms can occur, including "anemia, altered heart rate and respiration, convulsions and death from respiratory failure."[26] If only small quantities are ingested, people and animals recover within one to two days.[26][31]
Some pokeweeds are grown as ornamental plants, mainly for their attractive berries. A number of cultivars have been selected for larger fruit panicles.[32]
Owen notes that "Indians and early settlers used the root in poultices and certain drugs for skin diseases and rheumatism."[8]
The late 19th century herbal, the King's American Dispensatory, describes various folk medical uses that led individuals to ingest pokeberry products.[33] Phytolacca extract was advertised as a prescription weight loss drug in the 1890s.[34]
Pokeweed is promoted in alternative medicine as a dietary supplement intended to treat a wide range of maladies including mumps, arthritis and various skin conditions.[35] While pokeweed has been subject to laboratory research, there is no medical evidence that it has any beneficial effect on human health.[35]
Poke is a traditional southern Appalachian food. The leaves and stems of young plants can be eaten, but must be cooked by boiling two or more times with the water drained and replaced each time.[10] The leaves taste similar to spinach; the stems, similar to asparagus.[36]
The roots are poisonous, as are mature leaves and stems.[10] Some festivals still celebrate the plant's use in its historical food preparations.
As late as the 1990s two companies commercially canned and sold pokeweed, but in 2000 the last one, the Allen Canning Company of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, closed down its operation.[37]
A 100g serving of pokeweed contains 20 calories and 3.1 grams of carbohydrates, 1.6 grams of sugars, 1.5 grams of dietary fiber, 0.4 grams of fat, 2.3 grams of protein, and is a rich source of vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin C, vitamin K, and manganese. It contains low levels of vitamin B1, vitamin B6, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.
Plant toxins from Phytolacca are being explored as a means to control zebra mussels.[38][39]
The toxic extract of ripe pokeweed berries can be processed to yield a pink dye.[40][41][42] Early European settlers to North America would procure a fine red dye from the plant's roots.[43]
During the middle of the 19th century wine often was coloured with juice from pokeberries.[44]
Phytolacca contains lectins known as Pokeweed mitogen which are used to stimulate B-cell proliferation which is useful for B-cell assays, immunodeficiency diagnostic test, and immunotherapy.[45]
A 1969 hit written and performed by Tony Joe White, "Polk Salad Annie", is about poke sallet, the cooked greens-like dish made from pokeweed. The lyrics include:[46][47]
And in the fields looks somethin' like a turnip green
And everybody calls it polk salad, polk salad
Elvis Presley covered the song.
Poke salad festivals are held annually in several small southern towns, though often these celebrations are only remotely related to the plant as food or medicine (see [48] and individual festival references below). Locations include:
In Oklahoma, poke salad may be added to the annual wild onion dinners.[53]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Phytolacca americana, also known as American pokeweed, pokeweed, poke sallet, dragonberries, and inkberry, is a poisonous, herbaceous perennial plant in the pokeweed family Phytolaccaceae. This pokeweed grows 1 to 3 metres (4 to 10 ft). It has simple leaves on green to red or purplish stems and a large white taproot. The flowers are green to white, followed by berries which ripen through red to purple to almost black which are a food source for songbirds such as gray catbird, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, and brown thrasher, as well as other birds and some small non-avian animals (i.e., for species that are unaffected by its mammalian toxins).
Pokeweed is native to eastern North America, the Midwest, and the South, with more scattered populations in the far West where it was introduced. It is also naturalized in parts of Europe and Asia. It is considered a pest species by farmers. Pokeweed is poisonous to humans, dogs, and livestock. In spring and early summer, shoots and leaves (not the root) are edible with proper cooking (hence the common name "poke sallet"), but later in the summer they become deadly, and the berries are also poisonous. It is used as an ornamental in horticulture, and it provokes interest for the variety of its natural products (toxins and other classes), for its ecological role, its historical role in traditional medicine, and for some utility in biomedical research (e.g., in studies of pokeweed mitogen). In the wild, it is easily found growing in pastures, recently cleared areas, and woodland openings, edge habitats such as along fencerows, and in wastelands.
The first word in its scientific name, Phytolacca americana, comes from the Greek words phyton (plant) and lacca (crimson lake)—-a reference to its deep-reddish-purple fruits. The second denotes this plant as native to America. The common name "poke" is derived from puccoon, pocan, or poughkone (from an Algonquin name for the plant). Its berries were once used to make ink, hence its other sometimes-used common name, inkberry.
