Another Angle...

Looks like pokeweed to me. I'm far from an expert though--don't take my word for it.

That looks a lot like what garden compas said our volunteer was. It's now in it's second year and about 10 ft tall! Nancy

Agree. Sure looks like poke weed.

Looks exactly like my pokeweed. I weed out all but one of them each year, let that one grow (6 ft. tall) to enjoy seeing the dark purple berry clusters.

carol

Now I'll be singing "Poke Salad Annie" all day. :)

We have a ton of that stuff around here. The birds sure like the berries.....but they are poisonous to humans.

on the other hand, the young plant is delicious as greens, when properly prepared.

Ditto to all of the above! Except weeding it out!

I love the stuff!

I even harvest it and freeze it for winter!

How young does it need to be? I'm learning that there is a ton of wild stuff on our property that we could be eating!

The one in the photo is just about right, The leaves do get tough later on.

The "when properly prepared" is important since when improperly prepared it can kill you.

Doubtful that it will kill you but if you don't par boil it, it can as my granpappy would call it "teach you the outhouse trot". If you sat down to a dinner of only Poke salet and corn bread after a day plowing or planting, you might eat enough to do serious harm. Some recommend three par boilings, but I only used one as do all the folks I know and most of us are past the 3/4 century mark.

Ditto, Farmer Dill!

It was an early colon cleanser! My Dad always said that it was a good spring cleaning! He lived until 88 years old and ate Poke regularly.

What does it taste like?

Kinda spinach-y, in my experience. (I've only eaten the leaves, haven't tried the young stems.)

Each berry has 8-10 seeds and they will all sprout....

Agree. Not quite as "slick" as spinach. More like beet/chard greens without the sugary taste.