Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is a large, perennial, shrub in the Phytolaccaceae or pokeweed family.
It has many common names including poke salad, poke sallet, pokeberry, inkberry, poke, pocan, coakum, Virginia poke, poke root, scoke, pigeon berry, garget, cancer jalep, and chui xu shang lu (in Chinese medicine).
It is native to the eastern Unites States and can grow to a height of approximately 15 feet and just about as wide. The mature plant is usually multi-trunked, but may grow as a single stalk. The stems are a brilliant purple color.
It occurs naturally in disturbed sites and fence rows from Maine to Florida and Texas. Its natural habitats are thickets, roadsides, fields, and disturbed sites.
The leaves are alternate, petioled, oblong to lance shaped and tapering at both ends. The stems and stalks become red as the plant matures.