O/T wild berries

jay-eye-see · Aug 18, 2008

I was wondering if anyone could identify these berries for me, I have been unable to find a name or anything, thanks

Harry Selleck · Aug 18, 2008

Nice picture! Google "Polk Weed"

Pete-IN · Aug 18, 2008

Harry has it right although I always thought it was spelled Poke.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 18, 2008

thought to be toxic,do some research.

AB · Aug 18, 2008

Poke berries. They will sure make a soybean sample ugly while combining. The blackbirds eat them around here and then make nasty purple droppings on everthing. Never heard of human consumption. We think of them as a weed.

thurlow · Aug 18, 2008

We were always told that they were poisonous; google says they are while raw, but if cooked, can be consumed. Everyone wrote their name on their cotton sack with them in the fall and country folk eat the young tender leaves in the Spring........

jay-eye-see · Aug 18, 2008

Thanks for the name and info,

bill mart · Aug 18, 2008

isnt that the weed tony joe white was talking about in the song poke salad annie? was told the berries are poisonous but the young plants were totally edible. (i feel the same about these as i do wild mushrooms, dont risk it) bill m.

keh · Aug 18, 2008

Poke salad. Younger tender leaves to be picked in Spring , boiled,salted to taste. No problems with any poison then. Forget it after it makes seeds as in the pic. I think seeds are poisonous, but I'm not going to try them. Oh, mixing some spring onions in the poke salad is good.

KEH

Nancy Howell · Aug 18, 2008

Yup. Poke salad. Don't know about the berries, but I've been told if you don't cook the leaves just right, it will make you very, very sick. Poke salad will get 5 - 6 ft talk and have a tough, woody stalk that can be pinkish in color. Grows all over our place in e. Tx.

bradley martin · Aug 18, 2008

Definitely Pokeweed. Nasty but pretty. Some urban garden ceters sell them to unknowing and uneducated customers.Do NOT eat the berries!!

kyplowboy · Aug 18, 2008

Yep it"s polk.

In the spring, when it first comes up the tender leaves tossed in with turnip or mustard greens are pretty darn good. Gives"m a little more flavor.

As every one else said, don"t eat the berries.

Dave

1936 · Aug 18, 2008

I know of a KY type that ate the roots. Every seed will grown a new plant next year.

Paul from MI · Aug 18, 2008

Looks like purple nightshade to me. Actually a potato is a member of the nightshade family and potato seeds are poisonous as are purple nightshade seeds.
Paul

SKYBOW · Aug 18, 2008

I grew up on the banks of the Ohio River in Meigs county Ohio. These are Poke berries, they grow everywhere usually in poor soil. They are toxic and so is the sap of the plant-so I am told. The native people used the berries for purple dye. Every year I would pick several batches of the growing stem tip and my mother would cook them. Only pick the top 6 inches or so of the growing tip. Mom would put the lot in a colander and pour two batches of boiling water over it. The water would run green and smell like grass. She squeezed out the water. Then She would make patties of the wilted poke, eggs, and crushed crackers. We fried them in bacon grease. God I miss those days..................
Skybow

O/T wild berries

jay-eye-see

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Harry Selleck

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Pete-IN

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Anonymous-0

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AB

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thurlow

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jay-eye-see

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bill mart

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keh

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Nancy Howell

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bradley martin

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kyplowboy

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1936

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Paul from MI

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SKYBOW

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