Other common names.—Poke, pigeon-berry, garget, scoke, pocan, coakum, Virginian poke, ink-berry, red-ink-berry, American nightshade, cancer jalap, redweed. (Fig. 10.)
Range and habitat.—Pokeweed is common in rich, moist soil along fence rows, margins of fields, and in uncultivated land from the New England States to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. It is native in this country and naturalized in Europe, where it is regarded as an ornamental garden plant.
Description.—The reddish purple stems, rich green foliage, and clusters of white flowers and dark-purple berries give to this plant a rather handsome appearance. Pokeweed attains a height of from 3 to 9 feet from a very large perennial root. It is erect, branched, the stems stout, smooth, green at first, then reddish. On examining a piece of the stem, the pith will be seen to be divided into disk-shaped pieces, with hollow spaces between them. The leaves are ovate or ovate-oblong, acute at the apex, smooth, about 5 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, on short stems. The margins are without indentation. About July to September the long clusters of whitish flowers are produced, followed by the green berries, which upon ripening become a rich dark-purple color. The flower clusters are from 3 to 4 inches in length and on long stalks, the flowers numerous and borne on reddish stems. The berries are globular, flattened both at top and bottom, smooth and shining, and contain ten black seeds imbedded in a rich crimson juice. (Fig. 11.)
Fig. 10.—Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana L.).
Parts used.—For medicinal purposes the berries and roots are employed. Both of these should be collected when the berries are fully mature, which usually occurs about two months after flowering. The clusters of berries should be carefully dried in the shade. They are poisonous, have no odor, a sweetish taste at first, then acrid.
Fig. 11.—Pokeweed, flowering and fruiting branch.
Fig. 12.—Pokeroot.
Pokeweed has a very large, fleshy, and poisonous root, conical in shape and branched. (Fig. 12.) It should be gathered in the latter part of the fall, thoroughly cleaned, cut into transverse slices, and carefully dried. When dry it has a grayish, wrinkled appearance, breaks with a fibrous fracture, and the slices show many concentric rings. There is a slight odor and the taste is sweetish and acrid.
Both the berries and roots are alterative, act upon the bowels and cause vomiting, and preparations made from them are used in treating various diseases of the skin and blood, and in certain cases in relieving pain and allaying inflammation.
Price.—Phytolacca or pokeroot brings from 2 to 5 cents per pound, and the dry berries about 5 cents per pound.