American pokeweed

Family

Phytolaccaceae

Habit

perennial

Height

3.5 m

Spread

4 m

Growth

very fast

Lifespan

10 years

First yield

after 2 years

Hardiness

zone 3–9

Shade tolerance

partial shade

Soil

Sand, Silt, Loam

Soil moisture

moist – very wet

pH

5 – 7

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: Only the young spring shoot is edible, and only while it is at most about 20 cm tall and shows no red colouring at all on stem or leaf stalk. It is cut like asparagus, brought to the boil in plenty of water, the water poured away, boiled again and the water poured away again — only then is it treated like spinach. In the southern United States this dish, "poke sallet", is a traditional spring food handed down through generations, together with the rule that every change of water must go. Everything else on the plant is poisonous: the root most of all, plus the seeds, the ripe berries and any shoot already turning red. That reddening is the signal that saponin and phytolaccatoxin levels have risen. The berry juice is not edible either, although it has been used as a food colouring and ink. If you are unsure about a shoot, leave it — the yield is out of all proportion to the risk, and in April there is plenty of uncontroversial wild greenery about.

Other uses: The deep red berry juice served for centuries as a colourant: for ink, textiles, paper and — until it was banned — for deepening the colour of red wine, which is where the German name Kermesbeere comes from. The dye is not lightfast, though, and fades quickly to brown. As an ornamental the plant is genuinely valued for its red stems, white flower spikes and glossy black berry racemes; it builds a head-high structure in a single season and produces a corresponding volume of compost material.

Undemanding to robust: it wants nutrient-rich, humus-rich, reasonably moist soil at pH 5 to 7 and likes part shade, but takes full sun as readily as marked shade. It dislikes waterlogging. Once established it needs neither water nor feeding. The top growth dies back completely every winter and resprouts from the root in May — hardy to about -20 °C. Allow generous space, it reaches three to four metres across. The only real management point is controlling its spread: cut the fruiting spikes before the berries blacken, or birds will carry them across the neighbourhood. To remove the plant, the entire taproot must be dug out — wear gloves, as fragments resprout.

By seed, and it does this by itself: each berry holds about ten seeds, which stay viable in the soil for decades. For deliberate propagation, sow outdoors in autumn or cold-stratify over winter; germination follows in spring, irregularly over several weeks. The root can be divided in early spring before it shoots, each piece needing a bud. The plant flowers and fruits from its second year. Take care with any root work: wear gloves, and if spread is unwanted put cuttings in the waste rather than the compost.

The white flower spikes from July to September are visited by honeybees, bumblebees and hoverflies without the species being a major nectar source. Its real importance is to birds: thrushes, blackbirds, starlings and warblers eat the black berries in quantity and carry the seed for kilometres — precisely the mechanism that makes it a neophyte. The same berries are poisonous to mammals and humans, while birds tolerate them without trouble. The dense, tall perennial provides cover but is avoided by deer and hares because of its bitterness.

Pokeweed is a North American neophyte spreading steadily through southern and central Europe — above all on clear-fells, in gappy plantations and on disturbed, nutrient-rich ground. From a beet-like root weighing several kilograms it resprouts every year and reaches two to three metres in a season. Its seed stays viable in the soil for decades and is carried far by birds; in some forest districts it is now considered a problem for natural regeneration. For the garden that means: an impressive, low-maintenance structural plant with a narrow edible window in spring — but one to keep an eye on, whose fruiting spikes should be cut before the birds distribute them.

Native to eastern and central North America from New England to Florida and west to Texas. Brought to Europe as an ornamental and naturalised since the seventeenth century; now established across southern Europe, Italy, Hungary, the Balkans and increasingly in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Also introduced to East Asia and North Africa.

Fertile, humus-rich, moist soils on disturbed and open sites: clear-fells, forest tracks, gappy pine and black locust plantations, railway land, garden margins and ruderal ground. Part shade to sun, from the lowlands to the lower montane belt. In open plantations it can form pure stands and hinder natural regeneration.