I have been a Park Naturalist with Maryland-National Capital Park
and Planning Commission since 1981. I have dug pokeweed out and
found it to be really persistent. It turns out that over a 4 year
period of exposure (intermittent) I developed an allergy to pokeweed
that is worse than Poison Ivy. It lasted several weeks and the
doctors said that I was spreading internally through my blood. I
caution people and second your warning about eating it.
Traditionally, pokeweed is said to have been a natural dye
plant,using the leaves and berries. It is however a "fugitive" dye
which means that it fades in sunlight and is not permanent. Again, I
would caution handling it without gloves. I have tried to make ink
out of it since it is said that the colonists used it for ink but
have been unsuccessful in my attempts. If anyone has had success
making ink out of it, I would love to have the particulars.
In college I researched pokeweed for its medicinal properties
and found that over a very long time, NIH and others have been
studying an extract made from pokeweed. It is believed to stimulate
antibody production and it was hoped that it might be possible to
target specific antibodies. It did not modify the antibody
production but it hastened it. I have not recently reviewed the
literature so there may be new developments that I have not heard
of. It is a very interesting plant that we consider a weed but could
turn out to be an important tool for fighting diseases. Who knows .
. .
In My Garden Blog:
Mid-Atlantic
October 8, 2009
By
Charlotte Kidd,
Wyndmoor, PA
Pokeweed: The young short shoots are edible when boiled. The root, stem, berries, and leaves are highly poisonous.
Is It Lunch?
Mary dug deep, about 2 feet, to unearth the seven-pound pokeweed root. We'd been breaking the top off for years while weeding, so it was a hefty 4 or 5 inches around. Mary is tenacious. She grabbed the shovel and chipped away at the soil until, like a proud athlete with a trophy, she held up the huge root mass for us to admire.
"Can we eat it?" yelled Angela, from behind a tangle of cherry tomatoes -- volunteers in the rose garden. She's always hungry and this was pre-lunch.
Earlier Angela had been pulling out sunny yellow Jerusalem artichoke plants from a 6-foot patch gone weedy. Plump sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus) tubers ARE edible. Scrubbed of soil and sliced, in autumn these raw tubers are crunchy, sweet, and nutty. Nutritious too -- 650 mg. potassium per cup, high in iron, with 10 to 12% of the US RDA of fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus, and copper.
Beware the raw pokeweed root. Though it resembles horseradish, the root as well as seeds, mature stem, berries, and leaves are quite poisonous in the raw. Consumption can cause vomiting and worse. Some parts have medicinal use but DO NOT ingest without the guidance of an expert.
What about "poke salad, Annie?" Poke salad, prepared with bacon and onions, is a Southern dish. In spring, the young, 6-inch shoots are enjoyed like asparagus, a cooked green, or as a pickle. Basic preparation involves boiling the shoots for 20 to 30 minutes,
changing the water and boiling again. There are lots of recipes for dressing up the greens.
One Person's Weed is Another's Medicine
Week after week in garden after garden through season after season, we pull out pennywort, aka dollarweed (Hydrocotyle spp). Imagine my surprise at spying a beverage can decorated with scalloped leaves and labeled Pennywort Drink -- Bebida de Pennywort -- with 4% RDA iron, 2% calcium. It was in the cooler of an oriental grocery store. Of course, I'm bringing the drink to work so we can all have a taste.
In our landscapes, pennywort is a persistent, annoying pest. It's a summer perennial weed spread by seeds and rhizomes. It sprawls and creeps on land, wetlands, and in water along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida and west to Minnesota, Texas, Utah, Arizona, California.
In Indian and Oriental medicine, the herb pennywort (Centella asiatica, Hydrocotyle asiatica) is known as gotu kola. Gotu kola has been used in Indias Ayurvedic tradition for thousands of years and is noted in ancient Chinese herbals as a miracle elixir. An Internet check lists it as brain food and a remedy for just about any illness, especially skin disorders.
Will we three gardeners be smarter and rejuvenated after a sip or three?
Last of the Season's Gifts
One last honey-sweet, soft pink bloom from my 'Mary Rose' sits in a vase close enough to sniff while typing. Fortunately, the plant grows nicely in a large pot for two or three years. Then it's best moved to a sunny spot in rich, garden humus.
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Sandy Staples | October 9, 2009 | 10:42AM
Jules | October 9, 2009 | 11:54AM
I mistook pokeweed for elderberry, due to its somewhat similar appearance, and having lived in South Florida for many years where there are no elderberries. I boiled some up into juice and made a jelly, which made my kids sick after eating it. Beware ! Also, in regard to allergenic qualities, my dermatologist warned me that any plant with milky sap is a potential irritant and can give you a serious reaction if you're sensitive.
Charlotte Kidd | October 16, 2009 | 2:58AM
Hi Sandy, Thanks for the information and sharing your experiences with pokeweed. I'm sorry about your overexposure and resultant allergy. Good cautionary tale for the rest of us. I hadn't thought about potential problems from simply touching it. Another excellent reason to wear gloves while gardening. Must say when I researched pokeweed for the column, I found confusing information about its medicinal properties. As you write, there seems to be much more to know and learn in this area. Would be great if such a plentiful weed has the potential to cure to serious medical problems - without serious side effects. In the meantime, I'll be exercising even more precaution to avoid skin contact when handling it. Charlotte
Charlotte Kidd | October 16, 2009 | 3:13AM
Hi Jules, unfortunately it's easy to see why you mistook pokeweed berries for elderberries. Until a friend and I picked large batches of elderberries for wine-making decades ago, I found it difficult to tell them apart. I too have been warned against contact with milky sap. Besides being a skin irritant, milky sap from plants such as Euphorbia can also cause eye injury. Best for us to pay close attention to how exposure to any plant affects us. Itching, red spots, splotches, even small raised bumps on skin are certainly warning signs to heed. Thanks for writing. Charlotte
