Ritesh... I have never heard Veratrum sp called Indian Pokeweed... its a lily family member called Hellebore... native americans/ tribals used to treat high blood pressure with it.. but the therapy is apparently fraught with dangers and given up... (( so called Indian pokeweed is also a north american plant, a lily family, very different, very toxic...why is it called pokeweed I am not sure, ) ...livestock is known to die from foraging on the green new shoots of this lily plant... its very toxic... This lily grows in water logged soil, mostly in American northwest states ..
WHERE AS Phytolaca grows often in well tended farmland and edges of gardens or rich yet disturbed lands, One variety is known to grow in marshes ... all over the country..... they have these very attractive blue-black small berries that children sometimes eat by mistake and get sick.... burns the mouth so luckily the children stop eating them... but in large doses is fatal... a lectin was discovered called the Pokeweed mitogen.... rest is history... Usha di ==== ps the green fruits in your pictures are unripe, when they ripen they turn blue black... look very juicy... == On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Ritesh Kumar Choudhary < [email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Ushadi for information! Thanks Balkar Sir and Prashant Sir for > liking the photographs. > > Learnt from the net about Indian Pokeweed (Veratrum viride Aiton)...though > never seen in the field. Requesting Ushadi to kindly enlighten if Indian > and American Pokeweeds resemble somehow in their bio-activity. > > Regards, > Ritesh. > -- Usha di ===========
