Phytolacca esculenta (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Phytolacca esculenta Van Houtte

Family: Phytolaccaceae

Vernacular names

• Pokeweed (En).

Distribution

China and Japan, occasionally cultivated elsewhere, e.g. in the Philippines.

Uses

Leaves are used as a vegetable. It is also cultivated as an ornamental.

Observations

• Woody herb, up to 1 m tall.
• Leaves suborbicular to ovate-elliptical, up to 15 cm long.
• Fruit a depressed globose berry, purple-black.

Selected sources

13, 47, 57.