Pokeweed, July 22

Pokeweed (Phytolacca Americana L.)

Post by Tulla Lightfoot

I came across an article in one of the plant groups I belong to extolling the virtues of the Pokeweed plant.  The author claimed that it was an American original, immortalized in song, and so fascinating to the British that they brought it home and planted it in Kew Gardens as an “exotic”! During my walks on the Greenway trails I have passed this plant several times but never paid much attention to it.  I once had a very large Pokeweed plant in my driveway that I constantly, but unsuccessfully, tried to destroy.  During that time, I was told that the plant was poisonous and not much use. My feelings about Pokeweed agreed with the description of it written by T. W. Johnson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, “…an ungainly plant that some might consider nothing more than a weed on steroids.” But Johnson continued to explain the many benefits Pokeweed has making me I wonder if I had been misled about the plant. So I decided to research it on my own for this week and here’s the results. 

The scientific name for this plant is Phytolacca americana but Americans call it by several common names including Pokeberry, Poke, Poke Sallet, Poke Salad, Dragonberry, Pigeonberry and Inkberry.   There are 100 species in the Phytolaccaceae family but most of them are native to Africa or are found in other tropical and subtropical climates. Only a few species occur naturally in temperate zones and two of these are native to North America.  Phytolacca americana L. is found in most states and southern provinces of Canada except in mountainous regions.  The California variety is thought to an invasive weed and is probably the same species as that found in the east, brought to the state by bird droppings. It is also possible that migrants to California intentionally, or accidentally, brought it with them when they moved west to escape the Dust Bowl.  In addition, Californians have been known to plant ornamental versions of the plant in their gardens but for now, these are thought not to have escaped.

Pokeweed is a perennial herb that dies back significantly in the winter only to regrow in early spring with one or more stems arising from a large, tough, tuber-like tap root. From these modest beginning, the plant will grow to be 2 or 3 meters tall, but occasionally can reach up to 21 feet in height.  The plant’s pinkish-red, smooth stems can be ridged or flexible, and can grow to be as much as 2 inches thick. But the stems are partially hollow so they are not very strong. Pokeweed leaves are alternate, thin and green on the top, and lighter below.  The leaves are usually 8 to 15 inches long and 4 to 7 inches wide and are tapered at both ends.  The flowers are in a linear cluster with each flower on a short stem.  The flowers are white to greenish in color, but may also have a pink or purple tinge to them.  The flowers will become purple-black berries which grow to be ¼ inch to ½ inch in diameter. While the berries look tempting they don’t taste good and might kill you if you eat too many of them.  They also might kill you if you’re very young or very slight, but there is some disagreement about this.  However, there is no disagreement about the toxicity of the seeds.  The seeds are poisonous, and each berry contains 6 to 12 seeds. They’re covered with a very hard shell so they might pass through your digestive system without causing much harm, but eating at lot of the berries at one time is a risky thing to do. 

All other parts of the Pokeweed plants are poisonous to humans and livestock as well, but appear to only cause significant harm when consumed in large amounts. In smaller amounts ingesting the plant will cause nausea, vomiting, cramping and stomach pain, diarrhea, low blood pressure and incontinence.   Despite this discomfort people in the American South have traditionally eaten Pokeweed greens calling dish “Poke Sallet”. Since the word, “sallet” is the Middle English term for a combination of greens that are cooked until tender, we can surmise that the earliest English settlers of North America ate this plant, and preparation of this dish continues to this day!  To get around the poison in the plant, young leaves and stems of the Pokeweed plant are harvested in the earliest of spring when they have first emerged from the ground and have the least amount of toxins, although research tells me that leaves at the end of summer can also be consumed. The vegetation is then boiled and boiled again, each time using fresh water, until all or at least most of the poison is gone.  The remaining greens are then fried up with fatback or bacon and eaten.  Today it seems silly to bother with Pokeweed in the spring because there are so many other wild greens to eat then, but dandelions and clover were imported from Europe and were not readily available in colonial times. Any green plant growing in early spring must have seemed like a treat to early colonists. Besides, frying anything in bacon fat will make it taste good. And if the Pokeweed greens don’t distress or kill you, they’ll provide a good source of protein, fat and carbohydrates.  Some people even claim that they feel a powerful energy from eating this dish.

As the writer in my group claimed, there is indeed a song called “Polk Salad Annie” composed and sung by Tony Joe White. (His 1969 performance on American Bandstand can be accessed by clicking the link below.)  But far from describing a Southern delicacy, White describes the dish as being made by a very poor Louisianan girl whose father was a no-count, whose mother was a mean, vicious woman on a chain gang, and whose Grandmother had recently been eaten by an alligator.  Having no money to buy food, she cooked polk salad for her and the rest of her family and “did alright”.  The name of the song shows the confusion lots of people had about the name of the plant. Supporters of James Polk, the 11^th president of the United States, thought the Pokeweed plant was named after him and wore sprigs of Pokeweed on their lapels or around their necks in his honor.  But in fact, the name for the plant comes from the Algonquin word “pokan” meaning “bloody”.  Native Americans used the berry juice to make a dye that they decorated their horses with while early European settlers used fermented pokeberries in a hollowed-out pumpkin to prepare a dye for cloth. Pokeberry juice was also used a lot during the Civil War era as an ink. Any documents from that time that have brown writing on them were written with Pokeberry juice, which turns which starts out red but turns brown with age.  People still use the berry juice as make-believe blood for Halloween costumes.  The berries contain the identical betanin pigments of beetroot and are also used as a red food coloring. And like the berries of the American Elder, a the berries of the Pokeweed plant are used as a coloring agent for wine.

Perhaps the major importance of this plant are its medicinal uses. Tinctures, and salves made from Pokeweed leaves, roots and berries have been used for centuries to cure everything from boils to acne. Supposedly the tincture helps cure sore throats, strep throats, severe colds and respiratory infections. It can also be used for infected gums, swollen lymph glands, treat arthritis and stimulate the immune system.   A salve made from the tincture and cooking oil, used externally, will help with genital herpes as well as mastitis, and dissolve lumps, bumps, growths, and tumors.  One of my references claimed that Pokeweed tincture expels internal parasites, and has been used instead of antibiotics.  One writer even claimed that that several drops of it taken internally over time, cured her of Lyme disease. 

Once it was thought that the Pokeweed plant contain an alkaloid named phytolaccine, but research has found this to be false. The plant actually contains an acidic steroidal saponin and triterpene saponins along with mitogenic proteins that are found in herbal medicines. These organic chemicals are actually very beneficial in fighting several diseases because they exhibit antitumor, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and immunostimulatory properties.  Research is currently being conducted to see if chemicals from the plant can treat cancer or protect human cells from diseases like HIV and AIDS.  Pokeweed antiviral proteins are in the leaves and seeds of the plant. The seed protein was shown to have immunomodulatory activity in experiment animals which means that the protein either stimulates or suppresses the immune system as do monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. Since it is a supplement and cannot be patented, big pharmaceutical companies will not make much money from developing medicines from the plant, but thankfully some research is ongoing to discover its benefits, its detriments, and how it can be best used.

References below tell you how to make Pokeweed tinctures and salves.  You can also buy Poke liquid extract, which can be used to try to cure illnesses listed above.  If you don’t want to buy or make a tincture, you can just eat a berry or two.  One berry will equal one drop of the tincture but be sure to spit out the poisonous seeds.  Unfortunately, the tincture can have bad side effects, too, causing unclarity and a spaced-out feeling. Ingesting too many drops of the tincture will cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. And while I have only found innuendos and not eye witness report of anyone dying from ingesting the plant, several websites say that it’s possible, and probably, so beware!

Not all animals have bad effects from eating Pokeweed, and it is a great source of food for birds.  Because of this, the plant is found in open or edge habitats where birds are able to roost. The seeds have a hard, outer shell that pass through birds’ digestive systems so they are spread in their waste. Seeds can remain viable for 40 years just waiting for the right conditions to grow. Pokeweed can be found on the edges of forests, under power lines, in pastures and old fields. The berries are a favorite food of more than 30 species of birds including Mocking Birds, Brown Thrashers, Eastern Bluebirds, American Crows and a host of migrating birds, but they have to be careful. Pokeberries can ferment and intoxicate the birds that eat them.  Mourning doves, Georgia’s most popular game birds, love the berries, which are an important late summer food for them. Unfortunately for the birds, being inebriated by the fermented berries may make them even easier to kill. Pokeweed is the host plant for the Leopard moth.  Ruby-throated hummingbirds nectar the plant’s tiny greenish white blossoms, and white tailed deer nibble the leaves and stems in spring and early summer.  When the berries ripen in August and September, other animals feed on them such as gray fox, opossums, and raccoons. In the winter, when other berries are rare, Cotton rats will dine on any berries that are left. 

Far from being a weed, Pokeweed turns out to be an important plant whose benefits to human health is just now starting to be scientifically explored.  In addition, current research has found that a dye found in the berries of the Pokeweed plant doubles the efficiency of fibers used in solar cells to absorb solar energy.  So, along with its possible medicinal value to humans, the plant may even rescue the planet from global warming! So don’t chop down that big plant growing on the edge of your yard.  It might look ungainly, but sit and watch it for a while, and marvel at all the benefits it has that have yet to be unlocked.

If you want to find out more about this amazing plant, and listen to the golden oldie song, check out the references below:

Youtube, American Bandstand 1969, Polk Salad Annie, Tony Joe White  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JezqgsAN5Q

P.A.G.M. De Smet, editor, Adverse Effects of Herbal Drugs vol 2, pp 253-261, “Phytolacca Americana”, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1993.

David Taylor, US Forest Service, Celebrating Flowers, Plant of the Week, “American Pokeweed (Phytolacca Americana L.)” https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/phytolacca_americana.shtml

WebMD, “Pokeweed – Uses, Side Effects, and More”  https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-220/pokeweed

Missouri Department of Conservation, “Pokeweed”, https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/pokeweed

Terry W. Johnson, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, “Out My Backdoor: The Wondrous Pokeberry” https://georgiawildlife.com/out-my-backdoor-wondrous-pokeberry

Corinna Wood, Wise Woman Studies with Corinna Wood, “Poke root and poke berry medicine” https://www.corinnawood.com/blog/poke-root-old-medicinal-uses

Golden Gate Gardener, “Pokeweed – A huge and Toxic Weed”, Nov. 2017, https://goldengategarden.typepad.com/golden_gate_gardener_/2017/11/pokeweed-a-huge-and-toxic-weed.html

Science Direct, “Steroid Saponin”, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/steroid-saponin