American Nightshade, or Pokeweed…

Jul 23, 2010 23:16

This is really less of a specific question, and more of a request for information and discussion.

I’m currently compiling some of the information I find most useful(including herbal uses and moon charts)into a little personal reference book. It’s really more about the making a then the having the finished product, so a lot of my wonder and excitement are coming from just researching what I want to include. Since it’s almost harvest time, and I no longer live in a place where anything ever grows(insert my pained and frustrated expression here) I was planning my next trip out to the wild green yonder of California and what herbs and plants I wanted to harvest while there. My list was brief; mostly sage, rosemary, and other such garden herbs- until I recalled the strange plant that grows in the shade on my parents “farm” which I’d only ever heard called “Nightshade”. I did a dabble of research and found, of course, it wasn’t nightshade at all but Pokeweed.

Now my whole childhood I’d grown up with this plant; we’d hack it up to make play swords, stain our lips to look like lipstick, it seems to embody all my childhood. And now, reading about the color and toxicity of it in cold bright pixels, it seems so far from my reality. I feel as though I’ve looked up at a close friend and realized I know nothing about them! (Truth be told, my first thought was that it felt as if a school friend had rung my doorbell on chance to give me a copy of The Watchtower and tell me about god; I can only say, “I never knew!” and he I’m sure says “I thought you did!”)

Anyway, that tangent aside. I feel as if I ought to get as much information about this plant as I can. I’ve read what I can of it’s toxicity, edibility, and uses; my question is if anyone has had any hands-on experience with it, as medicine, dye, food, etc. And as a disclaimer, I feel I ought to say now I have no intention of going and chowing down a whole plant! I just have insatiable curiosity and a near endless supply of this stuff.

american nightshade, pokeweed

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