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Phytolacca acinosa
Also called Indian Poke, American Pokeweed, Edible Pokeweed, Jharak
In Singapore: Pokeweed, Indian Poke, Sweet Belladonna, Sarangun, Matazor, 商陆, 白母鸡, 土人参 (Grown in Singapore)
Indian pokeweed is a perennial herb in the Phytolaccaceae family, native to the Himalayas and eastern Asia and grown or naturalised in parts of Europe and North America. Its young shoots are eaten in some cultures, but all parts of the plant are poisonous.
Phytolacca acinosa, the Indian pokeweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Phytolaccaceae. It is native to temperate eastern Asia; the Himalayas, most of China, Vietnam to Japan, and has been widely introduced to Europe. The species was originally described by William Roxburgh in 1814.
All parts of the plant are toxic to human and mammals, with reported poisoning cases. This is due to the presence of saponins and alkaloids (phytolaccatoxin and phytolaccagenin).
When the species was originally described it was considered a plant located to Nepal. Currently, the plant is considered native to countries surrounding the Himalayas and introduced to large parts of Europe and parts of the United States (Wisconsin).
American pokeweed · Belhambra · Pokeweed · Phytolacca dodecandra
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Phytolacca acinosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
