Do you all have any ideas what this plant is? It gets up to a full wid

Do you all have any ideas what this plant is? It gets up to a full wide and 4 foot tall in my yard but someone cut it down so this is the new spring of it. The stalks were reddish.
  33 answers
  • Linda Hopper Linda Hopper on Aug 09, 2013
    Looks like pokeweed.
  • India Em Artist Author India Em Artist Author on Aug 09, 2013
    Too funny ladies, I was thinking a 'weed' and my friend and I were joking that since it keeps pokin it's head up around the side of the house it must be a pokeweed, ignorantly we are as no clue! lol Thank you so much for replying and helping me out! Much appreciated.
  • Linda Hopper Linda Hopper on Aug 09, 2013
    It is a poisonous plant but when gathered young and prepared correctly...it's not bad with a piece of cornbread and a hunk of onion. My kinfolk in Oklahoma pick it in the Spring to cook. They also can pokeweed.
  • SUE SUE on Aug 09, 2013
    That is what we call Poke salad. Yes here we eat it ! I love the taste of it scrambled with eggs!!!
  • India Em Artist Author India Em Artist Author on Aug 09, 2013
    Wow sue, really? That is cool. What does it taste like as in bitter/sweetish?
  • Linda Hopper Linda Hopper on Aug 09, 2013
    Sue...do you also eat wild onions and scrambled eggs? That is some yummy stuff!
  • SUE SUE on Aug 09, 2013
    I Love the wild onions, makes me think of chives.
  • Linda Hopper Linda Hopper on Aug 09, 2013
    I miss Oklahoma...they gather so many good things to eat in the Spring. I love the mushrooms. The black berries are to die for!
  • SUE SUE on Aug 09, 2013
    You do as Linda said ,pick it in the spring ,boil the leaves a couple of times ,using fresh water each time. Drain well and put in skillet with hot oil and add eggs and scramble. Has a flavor between turnip greens and spinach. Also the stalks when picked young can be fixed as you would fried okra. has a lot the same flavor. Like Linda said cornbread and green onion and that's (as my momma says) a meal. !!!! One more thing when put in skillet to fry add salt and pepper
  • India Em Artist Author India Em Artist Author on Aug 10, 2013
    Thank you Sue! appreciate it!
  • Lawn Pro Lawn Pro on Aug 10, 2013
    polk salad
  • Ava Landscapes Ava Landscapes on Aug 11, 2013
    its also known as inkberry. You can make ink from the crushed, black berries.
  • Judy Grecco Judy Grecco on Aug 11, 2013
    And they stain your clothes, so be careful with the berries!
  • Dan Rodowsky Dan Rodowsky on Aug 11, 2013
    Its a polk berry plant and the leaves can be used in salads. Beware if you leave it to grow you will have them everywhere next year and you must get the root out or it will come back!
  • Su Su on Aug 11, 2013
    cut root in wafers boil to tender but no mush and put on skin as hot as you can stand it then rap up with wet rags to take out poison ivy infection ....as you see above it is a great plant to have around but they do not transplant well I have tried many times and they might live but they they don't come back and make big roots for those times you might need them
  • India Em Artist Author India Em Artist Author on Aug 11, 2013
    Su that is very interesting. This plant is very multi-sufficient! Salads, berries, healer!
  • Sharron Pittenger Sharron Pittenger on Aug 11, 2013
    poke, can eat, we don't, we pull it up. Birds drop berries and it comes up every where.
  • Nancy Hatcher Nancy Hatcher on Aug 11, 2013
    Definitely poke. This is an invasive weed that you have to dig up all the root or it will just keep coming back. It spreads very fast so unless you want a yard full of poke get rid of it. If it's well established, as yours appears to be, you may have to be more aggressive because those roots are DEEP. I would cut it at the base, poke (no pun intended ;-} ) holes in the base and pour on weed killer.
  • Nancy Hatcher Nancy Hatcher on Aug 11, 2013
    One more thing - the roots are poisonous! Be very careful not to ingest & don't rub your face after touching the roots.
  • Erica Erica on Aug 11, 2013
    Its probably polk weed very poisonous,dig it up with gloves and throw it away.
  • Barefootyardlady Barefootyardlady on Aug 11, 2013
    The birds love the berries and this also helps the plant be quite invasive. I understand that as the plant ages, it becomes more and more toxic. I love that old song about Polk Salad Annie, but I am very concerned about you eating this until you really know what you are doing.... kind of like mushrooms. I recall that it has something to do with the color of the stems....
  • Ava Landscapes Ava Landscapes on Aug 11, 2013
    Yes, you'd need to crush them, then strain out. I believe the color is a dark purple, then fades to dark brown after a year or so.
  • Mary Sullivan Mary Sullivan on Aug 11, 2013
    Every time I see this stuff (which I do every day in my yard and I can not keep up with it) I hear this tune in my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRF24LY5pvw
    • See 2 previous
    • Kelly S Kelly S on Mar 23, 2014
      @Mary Sullivan I just saw this and the song brings back memories. not of poke salad but of chasing fireflies as a child when it or another version of it came out back in the late 60's early 70's. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
  • Maggie C Maggie C on Aug 11, 2013
    poke salad annie. yep. I love poke salad, but you have to pick it when the leaves are still tiny. After they start growing a bit, they are poisonous. @Erica, the leaves become more poisonous as they grow. This is to a newspaper of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System: aces.edu/dept/extcomm/newspaper/june21b02.html
    • See 2 previous
    • Maggie C Maggie C on Dec 20, 2014
      @India Em Artist Author no, they are edible and very good! Pick the young small leaves.
  • Shirley Boley Shirley Boley on Aug 11, 2013
    the berries are poisonous..and yes the leaves if very tiny spring can be eaten, but some people have reaction to this.on the skin.so wear gloves, if children around they think they can eat the berries!!!! most people cut it down..wear gloves to do any touching of the poke...if you are trying to get rid of it..yes the birds love the berries...and it has it's uses ..so if you are planning on using it..read up on this ..BEFORE you harvest/eat...and it will spread..every where ...
    • Judy Berger Judy Berger on Aug 15, 2013
      @Shirley Boley I was always told that the berries were poisonous when I was a child. But when my toddler twins chowed down on them, I called poison control in a panic and was told that they are mildly irritating to the gastrointestinal tract and that I should give them some milk to drink. They didn't even get a belly ache.
  • DONNA W DONNA W on Aug 13, 2013
    Mary S. I enjoyed listening to the song. This plant is driving me crazy. I think I have got it all and the next week it is back.
  • Em Hooper Em Hooper on Aug 13, 2013
    Did you pour old motor oil on the "stump' after you cut off the top?
  • Su Su on Aug 14, 2013
    With people all over the country getting deathly ill from something in common that they ate from store or restaurant...I say what ever you put in your mouth make sure you know what it is how it was cooked or not cooked and where it came from...don't ever take the advise of someone you don't know...and daily talk to the Creator of all things....cause you never know when you will meet Him face to face....I eat Poke sallet....I harvest it and Thank Creator for it...I leave the berries and the stalk alone ..I leave the roots in the ground until they are needed... when they are needed for someone who got into poison ivy I use them with prayers of healing....but this is just me ...I will not post here again I have grown tired of this conversation....now off to go harvest some dandelion leaves for a salad for lunch
  • NancyLee NancyLee on Aug 16, 2013
    Poke is strong herbal medicine and should be used with caution. ā€œDried poke root is sometimes used to reduce phlegm in the lungs. It is occasionally used to cause vomiting. The dried root is known to help heal inflammation and to stimulate the immune system. It is a mild analgesic and can be useful in the treatment of glandular fever, mumps, laryngitis, sore throat, and tonsillitis.ā€ The young leaves, prior to fruiting, are often eaten as a spring green - more here: http://www.everygreenherb.com/pokeRoot.html
  • Pokeweed. We have quite a bit of it on our property. I cut it back after it blooms and the birds have dined on the berries.
  • Pam Pam on Aug 16, 2013
    it grows wild in Oklahoma, Polk, is what we call it! it makes a pretty plant, in the fall the birds will come and eat the berries, some people cook tender, young leaves, boiling them until clear water
  • Roxanna Baldomino Roxanna Baldomino on Mar 22, 2014
    My Grandmother loved Poke weed. We grew up eating these types of greens, along with Lambs Quarters. My dad will still go hunting these things to this day. And they cut and use the large leaves. We cook them with bacon and onion and then add them to the skillet and place a lid on till they are wilted. We haven't been in any ER with Poisoning yet!!!!
    • NancyLee NancyLee on Mar 23, 2014
      @Roxanna Baldomino I've been learning about the wild weeds - remember eating some things as a child but never knowing that they are actually good for us!! LOL! Poke is one of the herbs on the study list of the School of Natural healing but I've never actually used it yet.
  • Elaine hagan Elaine hagan on Apr 07, 2018

    an annoying weed, usually dropped off by bird droppings - @ least in my yard