Indian Pokeweed

We're at home in Holland to assist son no 1 once again to find a good second hand car. It's rather rainy today, but I did have a quick dash into the garden to see what's still blooming there. The plant on the picture is an invader, it's called Phytolacca esculenta, in English Indian Pokeweed or Food Pokeberry, in Dutch Oosterse Karmozijnbes. This plant originally comes from East-Asia and China and has been imported into Europe and then started to spread with the help of birds who eat its shiny maroon towards black berries. As so many other plants this one is something to be careful with if you have young children and pets who might try the berries, the roots, unripe berries and seeds are poisonous for people. Birds are not affected by the toxin because the small seeds with very hard outer shells remain intact in the digestive system and are eliminated whole and that's the way the plant is spread! The berries were formerly used to produce the colour crimson (karmozijn).