No , but will watch this thread closely

Gg

Me, too. I'm curious, myself.

I found it on their Facebook Page...Phytolacca americana, American pokeweed. All parts very toxic.

Pokeweed or pokeberry, Phytolacca Americana. Very poisonous. It can grow massively high, I think it's an american plant which selfseeds here.

Thanks Resi, we must have posted simultaneously!

It is not as toxic as you would think. In fact the young shoots are edible and enjoyed by many folks in America.
The roots are poisonous as are the berries, but the new still green shoots are edible. Never tried it myself as it is supposed to taste like Spinach which I loathe.

There are plenty of case histories of poisonings though many are related to animals. Sadly, there are cases where people have made a tea from the roots and ended up dead.

The Horticultural Trades Association list of potentially harmful plants rates it as Class B alongside plants like autumn crocus, henbane, Datura, deadly nightshade, castor oil plant and other well-known toxic plants.

I am plagued by this in the Azores, where it is 100% invasive. To get rid it, you must get all parts of the root (same as a dandelion). During the growing season, you can whack the top off, and side shoots will readily sprout.

The birds love the berries eat them and that's how they get distributed. Take a spade and dig out the root as best as you can. Mark the locale and look at that spot next spot next spring, if seen pull the young plant out. Also next spring make periodic walks around the garden looking for young pokeweed to pull out. There have been times where I have found this plant a decorative addition to certain areas of my garden and let it remain but I have found no problem in keeping it under control or eradicating it when needed. All that is required is a little persistence. Obviously someone who would make tea from a plant that they were not familiar with...for if they knew about the plant they would not...is playing Russian Roulette.

Yes, dicing with death! Thanks for all the great info. Everyone. This was in St Andrews Botanic garden. It certainly is eye-catching! Not something I would grow.

I like it. We have it in a few places in the garden. Not found too many self sown ones in unwanted places. Easy enough to remove when tiny though.

The berries were/are used to make inks, paints & dyes. They are loaded with cyanide which must be cooked out.

Whoa!

Lots of berries are full of cyanins. Apple pips contain cyanide as do Abronia berries (Chokeberries).
Birds can eat them as they do not have the enzyme which allows the body to absorb the cyanide so it passes straight through. We, and other mammals do have the enzyme. After all it is no use as a plant producing tasty fruit which kills the creature which is going to spread the seed.

Chokeberries too? I did know about apple pips and a few other things.

Chokeberries too!. That is why you only use the juice, The cyanide is in the seeds.
Just about to have a crust with Chokeberry jam on it.

Lol...never knew! Didnt remove the seeds from mine. Thats probably whyI have excellent blood pressure...that and all the apple pips I ate as a child! ;)

Owdboggy...been researching this chokeberry thing. We call Aronia chokeberry, but the North Americans use that name for different plants including one of the Prunus family. Now I know that prunus seeds are indeed poisonous as they contain cyanide. But when I ate my chokeberries I didnt detect any obvious seeds in there. They must be there of course..tiny ones, but there was nothing in the recipe that said to strain the fruit or anything, and the only recipes I can find that tell me to strain the fruit seem to refer to prunus chokeberry. I will need to do some more 'digging', but please help if you can!

The Aronia I grow is Aronia prunifolia we think. The recipe we use says strain out the seeds and use the juice for Jam.
Not sure now where the recipe came from on the Interweb thingy.
Sorry about the stray 'b' in the posting.
Never looked inside the fruit for berries. Don't think there can be many as the blackbirds pinch the fruit if it is not protected, but there are no seedlings around the garden. Everything else hey eat definitely spreads out.
Perhaps we read the wrong recipe all those years ago. Not that we would do it differently, I don't like Jams with seeds in them.
The Prunus berries are more commonly called Chokecherries.

Interesting, thank you. I am different to you. I would never use fruit juice only to make jam. I always think if theres no pulp in the jam, its too sugary. Seeds...I prefer to keep them in for fibre, even though raspberry ones seek out every liitle crevice in my teeth! Lol