pokeweed

plural pokeweeds

1. countableuncountableA poisonous North American plant, Phytolacca americana, with reddish stems, broad leaves, clusters of white flowers, and dark purple berries.

   Native Americans introduced whites and slaves to several edible greens including marigold, milkweed, and pokeweed (Whit 2007). Slaves boiled pokeweed and often mixed it with turnip greens because it was thought that the two vegetables enhanced each other's flavor.

   2009, Herbert C. Covey, Dwight Eisnach, What the Slaves Ate, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 87

   Synonyms: poke, pokeberry, pokeroot, poke salad, American pokeweed, Virginian poke, pocan, American nightshade