Is pokeweed a poisonous plant? ...
deadly poison, the sap if you break the plant apart and the berries.
Interesting however, is the Native Americans, after boiling and rinsing the plant multiple times found it eatable! Yuck, gentle of like some giving of Sushi!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, it contains toxins that are poisonous to mammals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokeweed
I have hear of a lot of inhabitants eating it, but you hold to know what you are doing, i think the markedly young shoots are eatable, the rest is poisoness , so i would in recent times leave it alone. rhubarb is also poisoness . but folks make pies etc; out of it, again know what you are doing, take off it to the experts.
Caution : Toxic when misused. For experienced herbalists only. Can incentive intense vomiting and diarrhea.
Pokeweed
Phytolacca americana
Other Names: Poke Salet, American Pokeweed, Cancer-root, Cancer jalap, Inkberry, Pigeon Berry, Pocan, Poke, Poke Root, Pokeberry, Reujin D Ours, Sekerciboyaci, Skoke, Virginian Poke, Yoshu-Yama-Gobo, Yyamilin
Caution : Toxic when misused. For experienced herbalists only. Can basis intense vomiting and diarrhea.
Habitat
Pokeweed is a common perennial local plant, found in Northern and Central N. America from the New England States to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas, naturalize in Britain and other countries. Growing within damp rich soils within clearings, woodland margins and roadsides. Cultivation: Pokeweed is an easily grown plant, succeeding contained by most soils and full sun or partial shade. The stout erect stalk is towering, growing to 10 feet or more, smooth and branching, turning thoughtful red or purple as the berries ripen and the plant matures. The root is conical, life-size and fleshy, covered with a bare brown bark. Leaves are almost 5 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, simple, alternate, ovate-lanceolate, and smooth. The flowers which appear from July to September are long-stalked clusters and respectively has 5 whitish petals next to green centers. The fruit is a rich deep purple round berry, containing a rich crimson liquid. Gather young tasty shoots in spring, the roots surrounded by fall, slice and dry for latter use, and berries as they ripen.
Properties
Pokeweed is edible (cooked) and medicinal. It have a long history of use by Native Americans and in alternative tablets. The young shoots are boiled surrounded by two changes of dampen and taste similar to asparagus, berries are cooked and the resulting gooey used to color canned fruits and vegetables. The root is alterative, anodyne, antiinflammatory, cathartic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic and purgative. It is used surrounded by the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, tonsillitis, mumps, glandular fever and other complaints involving swollen glands, chronic catarrh, bronchitis and diseases related to a compromised immune system it have potential as an anti-AIDS drug. Some of the chemical constituents in the plant are triterpenoid saponins, lectins, antiviral proteins and tons phytolaccagenic acids, which are not completely understood.
New research have revealed that a possible CURE for Childhood Leukemia called (B43-PAP) is found surrounded by the common Pokeweed. Anti-B43-pokeweed antiviral protein, B43-PAP, PAP is a pokeweed toxin. The B43 carry the weapon--the PAP--to the leukemia cells. It have been touted as a smart weapon. In one study 15 out of 18 children who have participated have attained remission. The following is part of a repot from Parker Hughes Institute: The two parts of this drug are the B43 antibody (or anti-CD19) and the pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP) immunotoxin, a untaught product in the pokeweed plant. B43 is designed to make out specific B-cell leukemia cells freshly as natural antibodies attack and certify germs. When the antibody finds a leukemia cell, it attaches and B43 delivers the other factor of the drug, PAP. Inside the cell, PAP is released by the antibody and inactivates the ribosomes that make the proteins the cell desires to survive. With the cell unable to produce proteins, the specific leukemia cell is kill. More than 100 patients have be treated with B43-PAP and shown solitary minimal side effects.
Caution is advised as the intact plant, but especially the berries, is poisonous raw, cause vomiting and diarrhea.
A beautiful red ink and a dye are obtain from the fruit. The rootstock is rich in saponins and can be used as a soap substitute.
Folklore
Some Native American tribes used Pokeweed as a Witchcraft Medicine, believing that it¡¯s competency to totally purge the body by causing drastic diarrhea and vomiting would also expel discouraging spirits. Fruit was made into a red dye used within painting horses and a range of articles of adornment.
More links/information available at the bottom of the page at http://altnature.com/gallery/pokeweed.ht...
Answers: Yes if you swallow it or eat it and they are also poisonous to animals similar to mamals.