Poke Sallet

[birdsNbeesNseeds]

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Mine devour my hostas and begonias also. They don't touch the pokeweed around my place. I don't have any berries yet, but I've seen plenty of birds eat it at my old house.

 

[GardenerGal]

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I can say, from personal experience that poke sallet berries are not poisonous. I found this out years ago when my twins boys were about 2. We had a big fenced in backyard that I kept 'danger free' (except for the stupid fire ants!) for the boys to play in. Well, we had enclosed our carport to make a play room for them and that formed an 'L' shape at the back of the house. Unknown to me, a poke sallet plant sprouted up in that corner. They came in from playing one day with purple stains all over their hands, mouth, and clothes! I freaked and ran outside and found the poke plant...berry-less. At first I was going to take them to the emergency room, but then, as I could see they were not in any distress, no drooling, vomiting, crying, or anything, I decided to clean them up and watch them for a while first. I washed them up good (those purple stains don't come off easy) then sat them down and watched them. I checked their breathing, pulse, and the pupils of their eyes, and told them to tell me if they felt sick at their stomach. 2 hours go by and...nothing! Hmmm...I thought they must not have ingested any, just smashed them and/or spit them out. Soooo, next morning they wake up and when I go to change their diapers....they were full of poke berry seeds! Not just one or two, but more than a handful! They never had any problems with eating the berries! So...either poke berries are not poisonous -OR- my boys have really really strong stomachs! Or it takes huge quantities to be poisonous...

That's a really interesting account, OCL! Maybe -- and this is my hypothesis -- the fruit itself isn't poisonous, but the seeds are, and if the seeds are chewed up, that's where the poison is released. This is the case for yew (genus Taxus) berries. The red, juicy fruit is edible, but the seed inside is highly toxic. Nature's design is for birds to swallow the fruits whole and poop out the seeds, which is how the new plants get distributed.

 

[dogdollar]

The day I have to walk behind my free-ranging chickens and identify and check every plant they peck to see if it is on the "toxic plant" list, is going to be the day I walk away from raising chickens as a hobby.
DD

 

[Cathy Roberts]

The day I have to walk behind my free-ranging chickens and identify and check every plant they peck to see if it is on the "toxic plant" list, is going to be the day I walk away from raising chickens as a hobby.
DD