Pokeweed -- most aptly named.

[Ysarex87 81]

Bleep bleepin' bleep pokeweed! It's poisonous and it literally stinks and it grows so bleepin' fast. Been chopping a lot of pokeweed lately -- seems like every time I turn around. Anyway I stopped to take a snapshot before I killed it.

Joe

 

[Jamesaz]

Is this the poke (Polk) salad plant?

 

[snowbear118 49]

Yes.
I know someone that tried to make ink from the berries but the bright pink isn't light fast and turns brown.

 

[Ysarex87 81]

Is this the poke (Polk) salad plant?

Yes. But don't eat it -- it really is poisonous. A proper recipe for polk salad requires boiling and rinsing the leaves at least 3 times to remove the toxins -- not smart. People ate it during the Depression when that's all there was to eat.

Joe

 

[jcdeboever]

Is this the poke (Polk) salad plant?

Yes. But don't eat it -- it really is poisonous. A proper recipe for polk salad requires boiling and rinsing the leaves at least 3 times to remove the toxins -- not smart. People ate it during the Depression when that's all there was to eat.

Joe

Yup, don't eat it. Grows wild in Detroit and was a pain to pull, huge roots. Once they take hold, they go nuts and are a problem.

 

[smoke665]

Many times in my youth I was drafted to assist my grandmother in the collection of Polk leaves. She was specific about the size of the leaf, picking only the smallest ones. I know she boiled it, but I don't recall her going through multiple rinses. From boiling, it went to the cast iron skillet where it was mixed with bacon and seasoned. Don't recall anyone ever getting sick from eating it. Her first name wasn't Annie, but her middle name was Ann, something I used to tease her about after the song Polk Salad Annie came out in 1969. By that time our forage trips to the fields together had pretty much come to an end, though I occasionally still gathered the leaves for her.

 

[Ysarex87 81]

Many times in my youth I was drafted to assist my grandmother in the collection of Polk leaves. She was specific about the size of the leaf, picking only the smallest ones. I know she boiled it, but I don't recall her going through multiple rinses. From boiling, it went to the cast iron skillet where it was mixed with bacon and seasoned. Don't recall anyone ever getting sick from eating it. Her first name wasn't Annie, but her middle name was Ann, something I used to tease her about after the song Polk Salad Annie came out in 1969. By that time our forage trips to the fields together had pretty much come to an end, though I occasionally still gathered the leaves for her.

Grandma understood -- pokeweed toxicity is greatest in the roots and stem and compounds with maturity. The entire plant is toxic but least so in young leaves and the toxin can be cooked and washed out to a significant degree. Birds who eat the berries and spread the seeds are immune to the phytolaccine and phytolaccatoxin toxins.

Joe

 

[Gary A.]

Documenting the death. I guess cremation is warranted over burial.

 

[Ysarex87 81]

Documenting the death. I guess cremation is warranted over burial.

Compositing -- got two big compost piles going and that pokeweed is on top of the big one.

Joe

 

[smoke665]

I guess animals must be a lot smarter than humans, because there are many weeds out there more lethal than Polk. We routinely had a herd of 200 cattle on pasture, and a couple of horses, and I can only remember one case of weed poisoning. We had a dumb nag that ate some Jimson Weed one time.

 

[Jamesaz]

Smoke, what a wonderful memory to have of your grandmother. Thank you for sharing.