Phytolacca americana L.

vernacular American pokeweed — species · Phytolaccaceae

USDA: PHAM4
GBIF: 3084015
Rank: species

American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) — Platephotograph · Craig K. HuntCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Phytolaccaceae R. Br.
Genus: Phytolacca

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 5 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 5 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: Low
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: High
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -33 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 100 min.
Precipitation: 30–65 in/yr
pH range: 4.7–8
Root depth: 16 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 7.3 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: Black
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: Slight

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Mid Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Rapid
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 58,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 5 counties across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PHAM4 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3084015 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z