Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), also known as American pokeweed, poke sallet, pokeberry, dragonberries, pigeonberry weed, and inkberry, is a native plant of the eastern United States. It is poisonous in the summer, and its roots and berries are poisonous at all times, but in the spring, the shoots and leaves are edible with proper preparation. Because it grows easily in pastures, disturbed areas, and woodland edges, it is a traditional food source for rural populations from Pennsylvania to southern Appalachia.
Appalachian cookbooks routinely include recipes for pokeweed, treating the shoots like asparagus stalks, which are peeled and fried, and the leaves like turnip greens, which are poached or boiled and rinsed multiple times. Leaves prepared in this fashion are sometimes called poke salad or poke sallat. Do not attempt these recipes; there is no guaranteed method to be certain the toxins have been removed.
Pokeweed poisoning was common in eastern North America during the 19th century, when it was used for tinctures and other medicines, or the roots were mistaken for other root vegetables. While exposures are still fairly common, most exposure leads to pain, vomiting, and diarrhea rather than death.