Pokeweed

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Pokeweed
American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) with hanging pods.

American pokeweed ( Phytolacca americana ) with hanging pods.

Systematics
Eudicotyledons
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Pokeweed family (Phytolaccaceae)
Subfamily : Phytolaccoideae
Genre : Pokeweed
Scientific name
Phytolacca
L.

The pokeweed ( Phytolacca ) are a genus of plants within the pokeweed family (Phytolaccaceae). The German common name pokeweed comes from the Persian word قرمز qermez for red .

description

Illustration of pokeweed ( Phytolacca americana )
Phytolacca icosandra with inflorescences and fruit clusters
American pokeweed ( Phytolacca americana ) with hanging pods
Habit, stalked simple leaves and inflorescences of Phytolacca rugosa
Habit, stalked simple leaves and inflorescence of Phytolacca sandwicensis
Phytolacca weberbaueri strain
Habit and inflorescences of the edible pokeweed ( Phytolacca acinosa ); it is an invasive plant in Central Europe .
The upright fruit clusters of the edible pokeweed ( Phytolacca acinosa ) with the flattened berries

Appearance and leaves

In Phytolacca TYPES There are mostly perennial herbaceous plants rarely, shrubs or trees that reach stature heights of approximately 1 to 2 meters. The mostly upright, rarely climbing, pencil-shaped, furrowed or angular stem is sometimes reddish. In addition to young stems, the inflorescences are sometimes hairy, otherwise the parts of the plant are hairless. The roots are usually thick and fleshy. The mostly stalked leaves have a simple leaf blade.

Inflorescences and flowers

Five to a hundred stalked or sessile flowers stand together in terminal or leaves opposite, racemose , spiked or zymous inflorescences .

The mostly hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold. There are only five to sometimes eight bracts available; they are mostly greenish-white during the flowering period and enlarge and become red as the fruit develops. In one or two circles there are usually ten (6 to 33) stamens ; they are free or fused at their base and may or may not protrude from the flower envelope. There are 5 to 16, rarely up to 30 carpels present; they are free or overgrown. When the carpels are fused, the ovary is almost spherical. There are as many free, awl-shaped styles as carpels.

Fruits and seeds

The fruits are usually fleshy, flattened berries , usually with six to twelve (rarely up to 30) seeds, which have up to as many lobes as carpels are involved; or solitary, achena-like fruits are formed. The black, shiny seeds are kidney-shaped to compressed with a hard, fragile, hairless testa .

Systematics and distribution

The distribution of the genus Phytolacca is almost cosmopolitan, but most of the species are native to South America , and overall there are more species in the New World than in the Old World; only a few species have their natural home in Africa or Eurasia . Some species are invasive plants around the world . Pokeweed species ( Phytolacca ) occur predominantly in tropical to subtropical areas and in wine-growing areas. Feral species can be found all over the world.

The genus Phytolacca was established by Carl von Linné . The botanical genus name Phytolacca comes partly from the Greek word φυτόν (phyton) for “plant” and partly from the Latin lacca for “lacquer” and refers to the appearance of the berries. A synonym for Phytolacca L. is Pircunia Bertero ex Ruschenb.

The identification of the species is difficult, this led to many synonyms. About 25 to 35 Phytolacca species are known, here is a selection:

Invasive species

None of the species is native to Central Europe, but rather they belong to the neophytes in Central Europe . In 2002 it was not yet known whether there was a harmful effect on the native flora . The geoecologist Constanze Buhk from Landau warns, “ According to recent studies, even beech trees would have difficulties on the soil that Phytolacca spec. is burdened to be able to germinate at all. That makes them so competitive and therefore dangerous, because they can really destroy everything ”. "In many gardens in southern Germany you can now find her as a 'permanent guest'."

use

Due to the triterpene saponine ( phytolaccagenin ) and lectins, they are slightly to poisonous for mammals . The concentration of the toxic ingredients decreases as follows: root, leaf, stem, unripe fruit, ripe fruit.

Because of the toxins, food-grade pokeweed products must be treated or prepared accordingly. The berries contain dark red to black pigment, betacyane (Phytolaccarot) is similar to that of beetroot . They were previously used to color red wine, liqueurs and pastries, but because of their strong laxative effect, this was banned. It was also used to dye wicker , wool, silk , leather and make-up. The Indian pokeweed and Phytolacca dioica were also used for dyeing. To dye wool fuchsin red, the wool, which has been pre-stained with alum or tartar , is dipped in an extract of the dye acidified with vinegar .

The leaves are elliptical in shape. In America, young pokeweed leaves are prepared in a similar way to spinach. Pokeweed is also known as polk salad in the USA and used to play an important role in Louisiana's cuisine. Tony Joe White wrote the song Polk Salad Annie about it , which was also covered by Elvis Presley .

The sprouts have an asparagus-like taste.

In 1989, Aklilu Lemma and Legesse Wolde-Yohannes were awarded the Right Livelihood for their in-depth research into the properties of the endodic plant ( Phytolacca dodecandra ) as an inexpensive prophylactic against schistosomiasis and for their struggle to overcome the bias of Western medicine against Third World research Award .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Phytolacca at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed October 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Phytolacca in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
  3. ↑ a b c d Dequan Lu, Kai Larsen: Phytolaccaceae : Phytolacca , p. 435 - online with the same text as the printed work , In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven (ed.): Flora of China , Volume 9 - Pittosporaceae through Connaraceae , Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis, 2003, ISBN 1-930723-14-8 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Phytolacca at Tropicos.org. In: 83 . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  5. ^ I. Kowarik, U. Starfinger (Ed.): Biologische Invasionen. Challenge to action? In: NEOBIOTA , 1, 2002, pp. 5-24
  6. ↑ Volker Mrasek : Next invasion is rolling, American pokeweed is spreading massively in southwest German forests. Deutschlandfunk - broadcast on October 11, 2013
  7. ↑ Bruno Vonarburg: Homeotany: Colorful autumn. Volume 3, 2nd edition, Haug, 2005, ISBN 978-3-8304-7227-8 , p. 61.
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Steglich, Burkhard Fugmann, Susanne Lang-Fugmann (eds.): RÖMPP Lexikon Naturstoffe. Thieme, 1997, ISBN 3-13-749901-1 , p. 494.
  9. ^ Gerhard Eisenbrand, Peter Schreier: RÖMPP Lexikon Lebensmittelchemie. 2nd edition, Thieme, 2006, ISBN 978-3-13-736602-7 , p. 604.
  10. ↑ G. Frerichs, G. Arends, H. Zörnig: Hagers Handbook of Pharmaceutical Practice. 2. Volume K-Z , 2nd edition, Springer, 1949, ISBN 978-3-642-49483-3 , p. 439.
  11. ↑ Ira S. Richards, Marie Bourgeois: Principles and Practice of Toxicology in Public Health. 2nd edition, Jones & Bartlett, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4496-4526-7 , p. 76.
  12. ^ Bradford Angier: Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Stackpole Books, 1974, ISBN 0-8117-2018-7 , p. 170.
  13. ^ New Scientist . Nov 11, 1989, p. 21.

Web links

Wiktionary: pokeweed  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Pokeweed ( Phytolacca )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files