pokeweed
Tall wild plant with purple stems; young shoots make poke sallet.
Also called poke, pokeberry, poke sallet.
Updated September 24, 2026
pokeweed pronunciation
/POKE-weed/
Meaning
The roadside weed Southern and Appalachian folks call poke, pokeberry, or pokeweed. Young spring shoots get boiled hard and fried into poke sallet (also spelled polk salad). Berries stain purple. Roots and mature parts will make you sick if you mess with them wrong. Free food if you know what you're doing; poison if you don't.
How folks use it
- “Mama's out cutting young pokeweed for sallet.”
- “That pokeweed along the fence is taller than the shed already.”
Origin and etymology
American pokeweed is Phytolacca americana, native across much of the U.S. Regional names include poke, poke sallet, and pokeberry. Appalachian and Southern families cooked the young greens for generations as cheap spring food. Tony Joe White's "Polk Salad Annie" put the dish on the radio in 1969.
Frequently asked questions
Can you eat pokeweed raw?
No. Raw plant, roots, and berries are toxic. Only young shoots, boiled in changes of water by somebody who knows the plant, belong on a plate.