Pokeweed

Location

South of the Preclinical Science Building.

Description

Pokeweed is a stout, branching plant standing from four to ten feet high from summer to fall, with racemes of white or pinkish flowers a quarter inch wide.  The berries are dark purple (Newcomb 1977).

History

Pokeweed is native to North America.  Delaware Indians prescribed pokeweed as a cardiac stimulant (Le Strange 1977). The Pamunkey Indians of Virginia drank a tea made of boiled berries for rheumatism (Duke 2001).  Other American Indians used pokeweed tea for rheumatism, arthritis, and dysentery (Foster 1990). Powdered root was used to treat cancer. In Appalachia dried fruits have been used topically on sores (Duke 2001).

During the nineteenth century pokeweed was used to treat many diseases, including syphilis and rheumatism (LeStrange 1977). Leaf juice was once mixed with gunpowder as a cancer remedy (Duke 2001). The poisonous root of the pokeweed was used as an emetic and cathartic (LeStrange 1977).  Ointments or decoctions were used to treat cancers and tumors (Grieve 1998). In Spain, a root preparation was used to treat skin problems (Grieve 1998).  Root poultices were used for neuralgia, bruises, sprains and swellings (Foster 1990).

Pennsylvania Dutch (and people in Portugal) used the juice of the berries for ink and as a coloring agent for wine. The later effort was apparently short-lived as poke ruined the taste of the wine and had poisonous effects (Duke 2001). Pokeweed berry has also been used as a food coloring.

Current Medicinal Uses

Pokeweed is not currently used medicinally and is poisonous. Components of pokeweed are used in laboratory studies. Pokeweed antiviral protein has activity against HIV and is being investigated as an antiviral vaginal microbicide (D’Cruz 2003).

Young spring shoots of poke are edible after being cooked thoroughly (the cooking water should be discarded) but the entire plant becomes poisonous as it matures (Duke 2001).

Adverse effects

All parts of poke are poisonous. Berries are less toxic than the root but have poisoned children (Duke 2001).  Fatalities have been reported in children after eating poke berries (LeStrange 1977).

References

D'Cruz OJ, Waurzyniak B, Uckun FM.  Mucosal toxicity studies of a gel formulation of native pokeweed antiviral protein.Toxicol Pathol. 2004 Mar-Apr;32(2):212-21.

Duke JA. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2001. (p. 367-368)

Foster S, Duke JA. Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1990. (p. 56)

Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Tiger Books International, London, 1998 (first published in 1931 by Jonathan Cape Ltd):648-649.

Kiple KF, Ornelas KC, ed. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000. (p. 1837)

Le Strange, R. A History of Herbal Plants. Arco Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1977. (pp. 202-203)

Lewis WH, Elvin-Lewis MPF. Medical Botany: Plants Affecting Man’s Health. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1977. (pp. 90, 98, 167, 278)

Newcomb L. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1977. (p. 200)

Disclaimer 

Information on this website is for educational purposes only. Many herbs historically used for medicine are considered too toxic to use today; some of these herbs have caused deaths. Do not ingest these herbs based on information on this website. We have not provided sufficient information for the safe medicinal use of any of these herbs, nor sufficient information for treatment of poisoning. All recreational use of these herbs is dangerous.