Phytolacca americana aka American Pokeweed

Phytolacca americana, also known as American pokeweed, pokeweed, poke sallet, dragonberries, and inkberry, is a poisonous, herbaceous perennial plant in the pokeweed family Phytolaccaceae. This pokeweed grows up to 8 feet in height and has simple leaves on green to red or purplish stems with showy reddish-purple stems. It has a large white taproot and produces apetalous, bisexual, green to white summer flowers followed by grape-like fruits that ripen through red to purple to almost black. The plant is native to eastern North America, the Midwest, and the South, with more scattered populations in the far West. It is also naturalized in parts of Europe and Asia and is considered a pest species by farmers. In the wild, it is easily found growing in pastures, recently cleared areas, and woodland openings, edge habitats such as along fencerows, and in wastelands. Pokeweed is poisonous to humans, dogs, and livestock, and its berries are also poisonous. However, in spring and early summer, shoots and leaves (not the root) are edible with proper cooking, hence the common name "poke sallet." Its berries were once used to make ink, hence its other sometimes-used common name, inkberry. The plant is also a food source for songbirds such as gray catbird, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, and brown thrasher, as well as other birds and some small non-avian animals that are unaffected by its mammalian toxins. Phytolacca americana is used as an ornamental in horticulture, and it provokes interest for the variety of its natural products (toxins and other classes), for its ecological role, its historical role in traditional medicine, and for some utility in biomedical research (e.g., in studies of pokeweed mitogen). The first word in its scientific name, Phytolacca americana, comes from the Greek words phyton (plant) and lacca (crimson lake)—a reference to its deep-reddish-purple fruits. The second denotes this plant as native to America. The common name "poke" is derived from puccoon, pocan, or poughkone (from an Algonquin name for the plant). American Pokeweed is also a popular houseplant that is easy to grow and needs regular watering to thrive. It does best in long-lasting, direct light and should be less than 1 foot from a window.