Phytolacca americana (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Phytolacca americana L.

Family: Phytolaccaceae

• Phytolacca decandra L.

• Pokeweed (En)
• Raisin d'Amérique, morelle à grappe (Fr)
• Laos: kub nyuj (Hmong)
• Vietnam: thương lục.

Originating from North America, now cultivated worldwide and sometimes naturalized. In South-East Asia particularly in Indo-China.

Young shoots, when cooked, are used as a vegetable. The red fruits have been used to colour wine, but are slightly toxic. All parts, especially the roots, are used medicinally as narcotic, emetic and purgative. The plant is a common ornamental in temperate climates.

• Perennial herb, up to 4 m tall, with branched stems and tuberous roots.
• Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 10-40 cm × 4-12 cm.
• Fruit a berry, subglobose, 1.2 cm in diameter, 10-lobed, dark red, in racemose infructescences.

The plant is often distributed by birds which eat the fruits.

33, 47, 57, 70.