Pokeweed

Photo of pokeweed plant with dangling stalks of ripe and unripe berries.
Poisonous
Skin irritating
Scientific Name
Phytolacca americana
Family
Phytolaccaceae (pokeweeds)
Description

Pokeweed is a tall, smooth, branching perennial with red stems and juicy, dark purple berries. Stems smooth, often reddish- or purplish-tinged. Flowers in terminal and lateral racemes, minute, somewhat bell-shaped, with 5 greenish-white sepals suffused with pink. There are no petals, 10 protruding stamens, and 1 pistil with 10 carpels (chambers) in a ring, each carpel having its own style. Blooms May–October. Leaves many, alternate, smooth, oblong-lanceolate, to 1 foot long, on petioles. Fruit elongated clusters dark purple, juicy berries containing 10 oval black seeds.

Other Common Names
Poke
Poke Salat
Size

Height: to 10 feet.

Where To Find
image Pokeweed Poke distribution map

Statewide.

Common in disturbed soils and waste places, farmyards, fencerows, fields, and rights-of-way, and banks of waterways, ponds, lakes, bases and ledges of bluffs, and edges of bottomland and moist upland forests. Its handsome smooth, purple-tinged stems, stout taproot, and long-lasting fertility of the seeds make this a familiar, hardy weed. It is native to the eastern United States but has been introduced west to California and Oregon and to the Old World.

The toxins in pokeweed are not completely understood. All parts should be considered poisonous to people and livestock. Cooking reduces the toxicity. Some people develop a rash after handling the plants. This is the only member of the pokeweed family in Missouri. Botanists, using gene sequencing data, are debating how big the pokeweed family is. It could contain between 30 and 120 species worldwide. Regardless, most pokeweed species live in tropical and subtropical regions of the New World.

All parts are toxic, but young shoots and leaves, after thorough cooking in at least 2 waters, are eaten by many in a dish traditionally called poke salat. This this plant is both toxic and edible. The berries have been used for food coloring, ink, and dye. Scientists are studying the plant for possible antiviral and antitumor medicine.

The berries are eaten by birds, which seem to be immune to the toxins in the fruits, and other animals. Birds disperse the seeds, which can survive in the soil for more than 40 years. Pokeweed is an aggressive and efficient colonizer of disturbed sites.

Media Gallery
Photo of pokeweed plant with dangling stalks of ripe and unripe berries.
Ripe pokeweed berries are juicy and attractive, but do not eat them. All parts of pokeweed should be considered toxic.
Wendy VanDyk Evans, Bugwood.org
1/6
Photo of a pokeweed plant showing red stems and branching growth habit.
Pokeweed is a weedy perennial common in disturbed soils and waste places, including, farmyards, fencerows, fields, and rights-of-way.
James H. Miller & Ted Bodner, Southern Weed Science Society, Bugwood.org
2/6
Photo of a pokeweed plant showing reddish stems and foliage.
The smooth, sturdy, erect reddish or purplish stems of pokeweed make it an attractive and memorable plant.
Theodore Webster, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org
3/6
Photo of a young pokeweed plant showing leaves with no reddish tinge.
If you want to eat pokeweed, use only very young plants, and make sure you understand how to cook them correctly.
Ohio State Weed Lab Archive, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org
4/6
Photo of pokeweed flower stalk showing details of flower structure.
If you look closely at these pokeweed flowers, you can see the green pistil in the center of the flower, which will become the berry.
Karan A. Rawlins, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
5/6
Photo of a mature berry of a pokeweed plant, showing several individual carpels.
Each pokeweed berry is an enlarged pistil or ovary that is made up of 8–10 (usually 10) carpels (a type of seed chamber), each with its own seed.
Ohio State Weed Lab Archive, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org
6/6
Photo of pokeweed plant with dangling stalks of ripe and unripe berries.
Photo of a pokeweed plant showing red stems and branching growth habit.
Photo of a pokeweed plant showing reddish stems and foliage.
Photo of a young pokeweed plant showing leaves with no reddish tinge.
Photo of pokeweed flower stalk showing details of flower structure.
Photo of a mature berry of a pokeweed plant, showing several individual carpels.
Similar Species
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!