{"id":2151,"date":"2019-10-09T04:44:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T04:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=2151"},"modified":"2020-03-27T04:55:06","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T04:55:06","slug":"pokeweed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/09\/pokeweed\/","title":{"rendered":"Pokeweed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Phytolacca americana<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phytolaccaceae<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caution: The young spring shoots have been\ncalled the most widely used American wild green food. They are sometimes\ncultivated and even canned commercially. So it is somewhat surprising to hear\nbotanists and pharmacologists sometimes warn that one should not even touch the\nraw plant with bare hands. Apparently the plants contain substances called\nmitogens, which may cause blood abnormalities if they come into contact with\nblood (such as through a cut).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only parts of the plant that should ever be eaten are\nthe new shoots (when less than eight inches tall) and these must be properly\ncooked to be edible. The root is extremely poisonous and has caused a number of\nfatalities. There are occasional reports of people getting sick after eating\ncooked Pokeweed, but I don’t know any of the details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gathering: The spring shoots are cut as close to the ground as possible,\nwhen about 6 \u2011 8 inches high. Harvesting a few of these does little harm to the\nvigorous plants, as they simply produce more. It might be a good idea to wear\ngloves while handling the raw plant as a precaution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forcing: The roots have been brought indoors\nin late autumn and forced like those of Chicory (Cicorium<\/em>), to produce\nearly spring greens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poke sallet: This isn\u2019t a salad by any modern\ndefinition, but that\u2019s what it\u2019s called. Prepare it by peeling off the outer\nleaves and cooking the shoots in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain, add new\nboiling water, boil for another minute and then drain again (this removes most\nof the water soluble toxins). Add fresh boiling water, cook for a further 15\nminutes, then drain and discard the water. The cooked shoots can be eaten as\nthey are, added to soups or fried in tempura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnew growth from plants cut down to the ground has also been eaten after\npreparing as just described, as have the seedlings, but they are not as good\n(and may not be as safe).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicine: Mitogens are substances that\nstimulate cell division and have been used in the laboratory to study the\nimmune response and certain diseases. An extract of the plant has been studied\nas a possible treatment for herpes, as it seems to inhibit the\ngrowth of the virus. Other chemicals in the plants have been studied as\npossible anti-cancer drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The berries of an African species\nEndod (P. dodecandra<\/em>) have been found to kill the Snail that carries the\ndeadly tropical disease schistosomiasis. They have potential value as a locally\nproduced, low cost molluscicide for controlling this serious health threat.\nThey could also be used to eradicate mosquitoes and other disease carrying\ninsects. I don’t know whether this species has any of those properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Animal food: The berries are a favorite food\nof birds and this explains the plants wide dispersal. It is said the seeds\ngerminate better after going through the bird\u2019s digestive system (this is a\nform of scarification) and they may not germinate at all if they do not receive\nthis treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other uses: The juice of the berries has been\nused as a fish poison, and as purple ink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horticultural uses: Though generally\nconsidered to be a weed, Poke is a truly spectacular plant. With its purple and\ngreen stems and shiny purple berries it would probably be a prized ornamental\nif it were harder to grow (some things are just too easy).  It is not a plant for small gardens though,\nas when growing in full sun and rich moist soil it may reach ten feet in\nheight.  It can also become a troublesome\nweed as bird sown seedlings spring up everywhere. Another problem is that the\nplant may carry mosaic disease, which attacks a number of important garden\nvegetables. It has been cultivated as a potherb in several countries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivation: Poke can be grown from root\ncuttings or seed (soak in sulfuric acid for 5 minutes to simulate the trip\nthrough a bird), or stratify for 6 \u2011 12 weeks. It will grow in part shade but\nprefers full sun. You can usually find seedlings around mature plants and these\ncould be transplanted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phytolacca americana Phytolaccaceae Caution: The young spring shoots have been called the most widely used American wild green food. They are sometimes cultivated and even canned commercially. So it is … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-useful-weeds","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Poke-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2151"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2157,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions\/2157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}