Severson Dells

The annual stripping of the pokeweed has begun at the Nature Center. Cedar waxwings love pokeweed berries and flocks have descended on the beautiful pokeweed growing in our butterfly garden. Catbirds, robins, thrushes are among migrants enjoying the ripened fruit.

Pokeweed is a great plant for bird and butterfly gardens. But be forewarned: it can grow large, spreads readily and has a deep tap root, which is also toxic. Here’s a description from Hilton Pond nature center.

Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, is a rambunctious native plant with a reputation for loosening up the gastrointestinal tracts of organisms other than birds–including pigs, pets, and people. In spring, fresh and tender Pokeweed leaves can be picked and prepared as “poke sallet,” the latter word being an Old English term for “cooked greens”–as opposed to a “salad” that is uncooked. Woe be the person, however, who mixes toxic Pokeweed root fibers with the green leaves or fails to boil the shoots long enough to drive out all the acids and alkaloids. These compounds are slow-acting but violent in their effects, which can vary among vomiting, abdominal spasms, diarrhea, convulsions, and even death by respiratory paralysis–none of which seem the slightest bit pleasant to us. Although children sometimes eat a Pokeweed berry or two, they seldom suffer the most severe reactions, possibly because the pulp contains lesser quantities of poison and the kids don’t chew up the toxin-laden seeds.

I have pokeweed in my yard and it does spread. But if you have space and are willing to pull out new shoots, pokeweed is a great bird-friendly addition to a yard.

Brian Leaf