I have no idea what this is. it is about 4 feet tall.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18492/IMG_0875.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1600211658)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18492/IMG_0876.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1600211657)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18492/IMG_0873.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1600211657)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18492/IMG_0874.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1600211655)
I weed wack it's neighbors, have plant juice stains on my hat still.. they never grew back from wacking so I think annual?
JJ
Pokeberry or Pokeweed
Phytolacca americana
Poke salad Annie , wait till the fruit gets ripe and the birds get a hold of it . Bombs Away :o
One ripe berry is enough to dye both hands purple!
Possum and deer love it.
Not the same thing as Elderberry? When I was 12 or 13, my dad used to try and make wine from Elderberry. He called it diet wine. You could barely drink one glass :D
Coons love it too. During my final Wildlife project at AU I found one on one of my survey lines on an old log road that I believe was 3" in diameter and 25' tall. Definitely the biggest one I have ever seen. It was in heavy shade on a flood plain and had to really reach for the sun.
My MIL I think used to make Poke salad out of it. I think she boiled the plant and poured the juice off a couple of times to remove any toxic compounds. I think she scrambled it with eggs. (According to my wife - I never actually saw her harvest or process it.) I have a big one by my hay barn I've let grow this year. First frost and it is gone.
Definitely different than Elderberry which has a hollow woody stem.
Elderberry is Sambucus spp.
Several species native to California:
https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/specieslist.cgi?where-genus=Sambucus (https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/specieslist.cgi?where-genus=Sambucus)
Encouraged as hedgerow (https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=31440&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed) between fields. Berries used for syrup.
Pokeberry (Phytolacca americana) is a non-native, somewhat common weed in California.
Thanks,
a native weed, but very poisonous to human and invasive.
ok, its growing in middle of poison ivy in a power line corridor.
I will probably just stay away from it, wasn't enjoying the juicy weed whacking mess with the ones on the corner of my lawn, but it is pretty with berries.
JJ
Sorry to mislead - my dad made his diet wine when we were living in lower NY state in the 70's. I travel in some very arid parts of California - I don't think either would grow around here.
That plant has one impressive taproot. I flipped one out with a loader in a compost pile that was a good 6' long and the size of my leg at the top.
I've let it grow in my back yard and well after the frost kills the plant, well into winter robins and other birds eat it.
Lot of people make jelly out of the fruit, don't care much for poke salad .
Reading about the work needed to leach out the toxins, I think I would start with blackberry or raspberry for making jam.
I think this is one of those berries your momma tells you not to eat.
JJ