American Pokeweed

American Pokeweed

Phytolacca americana

There's a blog called Nadia's Backyard that has a description of Pokeweed that is far better than I could ever do.  Check it out  at http://nadiasyard.com/our-native-plants/american-pokeweed/.

So, what can I add?  Hmmm.  I do remember a friend telling me about her child eating some of the berries and they rushed the kid to the hospital to induce vomiting or pump the stomach or something like that.  I guess they didn't want to be a test case for how poisonous the berries are.

One time I got a bunch of the berries and made a dye out of it and dyed a handkerchief.  That was my only attempt at dying things and I think I'm satisfied.  I'm not really dying to dye things anymore.  :-)   I never did use that handkerchief for anything, just wanted to see what the process was.



Birds eat the berries. They're immune to the poison.

The leaves are lush and green, which makes for a nice looking plant.