Phytolacca americana -L.-
pokeweed


Entry Type: Species

Species Name: Phytolacca americana -L.-

Common Name: pokeweed

Myaamia Name: maamilaniwiaahkwia

Description:

Harvest Seasons: Summer, Spring

Harvest Comments:

Habitats: Undetermined

Uses: Food, Medicinal, Technology

Locations: Geboe Property, Liebert Property, Grant Property

Sources

Rafert, S. 1989

Reference Type: Use - Food/Medicine

Archival Data:

"Pokeweed was always used by the Indians . . . pokeweed was a very important green." "It was made almost identical to the way you would could asparagus. And tasted a lot like milkweed or asparagus." "You used mostly just the stem. . . only the every smallest of the leaves would be used. All greens were considered a tonic [food to cleanse or protect against illness]. . . In the spring of the year after a winter of eating dried fruits, dried foods, and meat, they felt that they needed something else, a purge, that could be purgative, that could be used for that purpose".  Pokeweed greens were eaten by Lamoine Marks, and repared almost identical to asparagus or milkweed and tasted like them. Mostly just used the stem. Only the very smallest  of the leaves would be used. Considered a tonic, "like all greens", a spring tonic that could be a purgative.

Comments: N/A

Aatotankiki myaamiaki 1998-2006

Reference Type: Horticultural Info

Archival Data:

Barbara Mullin and her mother, Julia Gamble Lankford would go out in late March and early April with brown bags and fill them with poke they found in uncultivated areas. "It has a large leaf. In spring the greens are tender and very good". It is plentiful where ditches have been bladed and cleared and any other vegetation has been removed. The berries, developing later, are noxious. Barbara's recipe for poke is given in this article.

Comments: N/A

Aatotankiki myaamiaki 1998-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Daryl Baldwin found a reference to use of Phytolacca decandrea, the older name for Phytolacca americana, which used to be cooked on the fireplace.

Comments: N/A

Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Archives

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"They had what they call poke potatoes. That was a potato, but the name was poke root potato . . . something similar to a sweet potato when you first take it out of the ground before the skin has got dark, kind of a cream color . . . Mama said she cooked on a fireplace when she was about six years old. . . I think they said it came from Canada. I ain't seen it since we left Indiana, long years ago. But I saw it growing there".

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Mable Olds Leonard picked poke and wild onions to cook with.

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"My mother [Hilda Faye Billington] and me gathered poke in Oklahoma, and I do in Utah".

Comments: N/A

Olds, J., Olds, D. and D. Tippman 1999

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Greens gathered and eaten.

Comments: N/A

Rafert, S. 1989

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"It had to be gathered before it was about 15 inches tall. Beyond that stage it became poisonous."

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Use - Medicine

Archival Data:

"It was used as a spring tonic for cleansing the body. The young leaves of poke, curly dock and lamb's quarter's were gathered near my house, mixed together and cooked with vinegar".

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food/Medicine/Technology

Archival Data:

Young shoots of pokeweed are eaten. Mature berries are used as temporary, non-washable, paint, or dried berries used to deworm dogs.

Comments: N/A

Rafert, S. 1978

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

" . . . many said it was poison and wouldn't eat them, but they did".

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"[We] used shoots of pokeweed with other greens".

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Use - Medicinal

Archival Data:

"use [berries] for medicine, except sometimes pulverized boiled root [used] for poultice".  "used for rheumatism--soak berries in whiskey".

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. 1919

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"They use the shoots of poke, but Godfroy's belief was that they did not use poke, mushrooms, or wild lettuce, until they learned to eat them from the whites. He was probably wrong as to this, as the instruction concerning the use of native plants came the other way".

Comments: N/A

Peoria, Eastern Shawnee, Wyandotte, Seneca-Cayuga, Miami and Ottawa Tribes 2003

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Greens of the pokeweed are gathered.

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

"mamílanéwiákwĭ, mamílanéwĭákwĭa" pokeweed, poke plant; "mamílanéwĭa" pokeberry

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Use - Technology

Archival Data:

"Indians used pokeberries for paint, but did not eat young shoots".

Comments: N/A

Gleason, H.A. and Cronquist, A. 1991

Reference Type: Habitat

Archival Data :

Occurs in fields, fencerows and damp woods in eastern and western Myaamia lands.

Comments: N/A

Bush, L. L 1996

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Fresh pokeweed material was recoverd from an early 19th century Myaamia village site at the forks of the Wabash River (Fort Wayne), 1795-1812 (Ehler Site).

Comments: N/A

Tulsa World Newspaper 2003

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Due to lead, cadmium and zinc contamination in the Tar Creek Superfund Sites watershed, around Miami, Oklahoma and the Miami Tribe of Oklahomas headquarters, Miami and other local tribal members worry that traditional gathering of food, medicine and customs items may be contaminated. Fish, wild blackberries, sassafras, pokeweed, basket-making supplies and wild onions could have high concentrations of lead, as do the waters of nearby lakes, and it is not always successful keeping tribal members out of these areas. The Seneca-Cayugas berry dance could not be held, if all the wild blackberries and strawberries in the area are found to be contaminated.

Comments: N/A

Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

"mamilaníwia", pokeberry

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Dunn documented Gabriel Godfroy saying that poke, mushrooms or wild lettuce were not used by the Myaamia until the whites taught them how to use them. Dunn comments that "He was probably wrong as to this, as the instruction concerning the use of native plants came the other way [from the Indians to the whites]".

Comments: N/A

Aatotankiki myaamiaki 1998-2006

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

The leaves of this plant are safe to eat if you boil and decant three times to remove the saponins. The spinach-like result is a good side dish, but don’t eat a lot of it per helping—about 5 tablespoonsful. Eat too much, and you could get mild diarrhea. I used to eat the young roots boiled with no effect, but some years later things seemed to go “gray.” Maybe I didn’t realize that I ought to decant three times or maybe I did but it was not enough. I eat only the leaves now.

Comments: N/A

Legends

  • L.: L. stands for Carl Linneaus, a Swedish botanist and zoologist living from 1707 - 1778, who formed the binomial nomenclature system for scientific naming of species (the two part name). His initial after a scientific name indicates he was the authority for that species name.
  • sp.: Indicates the actual species name cannot or need not be specified. Example: Lilium sp. indicates a single species in the genus Lilium that is not known or does not need to be specified.
  • spp.: (plural) indicates "several species", two or more species of the given genus. Example: Lilium spp. indicates 2 or more species in the genus that cannot or do not need to be distinguished.
  • Use - Unknown: A record for this plant exists but does not include explicit information about the plant's cultural use. It is probable the Myaamia used the plant.
  • Botanical Sources: Sources of any botanical data for this plant species that is not related to its cultural use or significance.
  • Related Sources: Data indirectly related to Myaamia ethnobotany, including non-Myaamia uses of the plant in contemporary and historic times.
  • Myaamia Archival Sources: All records of plant use obtained directly from a Myaamia tribal member in an interview, recorded by a second party or by self-recording.
  • Undetermined (Plant Use): There exists use or other information about a certain, unknown plant species, but the specific species has not yet been determined.
  • Medicinal: For the purposes of this database, medicinal uses of plants and medicinal knowledge are defined as: Commonly held communal knowledge regarding the use of plant-based substances that aid in maintaining a healthy mind, body or spirit, including tonics and teas.
  • Technology: For the purposes of this database, technological uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in the making of food processing, canoes, rafts, dyes, tools, utensils, weapons, hunting and fishing gear (i.e. net, weir, etc.), cordage, string, rope, fodder plant species, firewood, any plants used in trade, etc.
  • Material: For the purposes of this database, material uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in construction of dwellings (floor mats, roofing, side walls), furniture, baskets, storage items, musical instruments, games, crafts, jewelry, cordage used in crafts, etc.
  • Food: For the purposes of this database, food uses of plants are defined as: Plants used as consumed food, spices and seasonings, but not teas or tonics.
  • Customs: For the purposes of this database, customary uses of plants are defined as: Plants involved in a customary ceremony, ritual or traditional event, including ritual smoking, chewing tobacco, war rituals, special mats used to sit on during ceremonies. Customary uses of plants, in this database, does not including plants used for recreation (material), structures where ceremonies take place (material) or medicinal smoking (medicinal).
  • Eastern Myaamia Lands: Eastern Myaamia lands (eastern myaamionki) are centered around northern Indiana, and including western Ohio, eastern Illinois, southern Michigan, and the northernmost portions of Kentucky.
  • Western Myaamia Lands: Western Myaamia lands (western myaamionki) include western Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.