Looking up a picture of American pokeweed, I am surprised to see on Wikipedia it is the same as poke sallet, a k a poke salad, which is a food, that has even been described as a "Long-Standing Staple" food for humans, esp. in the US South, https://www.saveur.com/poke-sallet ... and Tony Joe White's song “Polk Salad Annie,” covered by Elvis, turns on the gathering, cooking, eating, and sucking on leftovers, of this same "poke salad." (The song seems to suggest it grows in places where alligators thrive).
-- Magnus Fiskesjö, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University McGraw Hall, Room 201. Ithaca, NY 14853, USA E-mail: magnus.fiske...@cornell.edu, or: n...@cornell.edu Affiliations at Cornell University, WWW: Anthropology Department, anthropology.cornell.edu/faculty/ Southeast Asia Program (SEAP), seap.einaudi.cornell.edu/faculty_directory East Asia Program (EAP), eap.einaudi.cornell.edu/faculty_directory CIAMS (Archaeology), ciams.cornell.edu/people/ Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA), cipa.cornell.edu/academics/fieldfaculty.cfm ________________________________________ From: bounce-124056725-84019...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-124056725-84019...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Stanley Scharf [stanley.sch...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2019 9:09 AM To: Regi Teasley Cc: darlingtonbets; Maryfaith Miller; anneb.cl...@gmail.com; bluewing-gr...@googlegroups.com; CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Angry birds (Am robins!) The most notable act occurred in Burlington, New Jersey, at the 1738 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Quakers. Dressed as a soldier, he concluded a diatribe against slavery, quoting the Bible saying that all men should be equal under God, by plunging a sword into a Bible containing a bladder of blood-red 'Pokeberry juice', which spattered over those nearby. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lay On 10/26/19, Regi Teasley <rltcay...@gmail.com> wrote: > Thank you for this information. > > Regi > > > What good is a house if you don’t have a tolerable planet to put it in? > Henry David Thoreau > >> On Oct 26, 2019, at 12:53 PM, darlingtonbets <darlingtonb...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> >> A number of years ago, I asked poisonous plant expert, John Kingsbury, >> about pokeweed. He's a retired professor of botany from Cornell and was >> lecturer in phytotoxicology at Cornell's Vet. College. And author of >> "Deadly Harvest," an excellent book on poisonous plants. >> >> He told me that a group of medical researchers who were studying pokeweed, >> and handling the plant, all developed leukemia-like symptoms. (I don't >> know what happened after that. Did they recover, once they stopped >> handling it?) >> >> He recommended wearing gloves, if handling the plant. I think he said that >> the berries were the least toxic part of the plant. >> >> Just because a plant is toxic to humans, of course, doesn't mean it should >> be destroyed, just that people should be cautious in using, handling or >> eating it. And many plants that are toxic to humans are fine for birds >> and other animals. Pokeweed is a beautiful, interesting plant. Just don't >> eat it or handle it without gloves. >> Betsy >> >> >> >> >> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone >> >> -------- Original message -------- >> From: Maryfaith Miller <merrymilkm...@gmail.com> >> Date: 10/26/19 12:08 PM (GMT-05:00) >> To: anneb.cl...@gmail.com >> Cc: Regi Teasley <rltcay...@gmail.com>, bluewing-gr...@googlegroups.com, >> CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> >> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Angry birds (Am robins!) >> >> I have used pokeweed berries in my forest kindergarten class to dye wool >> an intensely beautiful shade of purple. 5-6-7 year olds, harvested, >> crushed, boiled over a campfire and stirred the pot full of wool roving >> and pokeweed berries. My students love knowing which plants are deadly >> poisonous. I have taught them a lot about mushrooms, and all of them can >> identify a destroying angel, jack o'lanterns, etc. Knowledge is power, and >> children love having this knowledge. They know where all the pokeweed >> plants are at Lime Hollow and love to inform people about them. >> >> But this is a bird list, and the question is about bird behavior...I'd >> love to hear about the OP's question re American Robin aggression if >> anyone knows more about that. >> Maryfaith Decker Miller >> >> On Sat, Oct 26, 2019 at 11:38 AM <anneb.cl...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> And I am living proof that eating young pokeweed is not deadly. We didn’t >>> use 3 waters either, although drained it. >>> But I am NOT suggesting everyone try it. Young spinach causes less panic. >>> Or try lambs quarters. >>> Anne >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>> On Oct 26, 2019, at 9:56 AM, Regi Teasley <rltcay...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> I understand Pokeweed is poisonous to humans. Your thoughts on keeping >>>> these plants? >>>> >>>> Regi >>>> >>>> >>>> What good is a house if you don’t have a tolerable planet to put it in? >>>> Henry David Thoreau >>>> >>>>> On Oct 26, 2019, at 9:01 AM, anneb.cl...@gmail.com wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> This morning I have a large number of robins all age/sexes foraging on >>>>> my productive pokeweed berries and scratching leaves AND chasing each >>>>> other hard and long. More athletic long chases than I am used to >>>>> associating with robins. >>>>> >>>>> They are not just chasing around the berries although I watched some >>>>> head lowered face offs ( before a chase) on the fence near pokeweed. >>>>> >>>>> Anne >>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>> -- >>>>> >>>>> Cayugabirds-L List Info: >>>>> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME >>>>> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES >>>>> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm >>>>> >>>>> ARCHIVES: >>>>> 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html >>>>> 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds >>>>> 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html >>>>> >>>>> Please submit your observations to eBird: >>>>> http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
