Phytolacca.

Phytolacca acinosa Roxb. Phytolaccaceae. Indian Poke.

Himalayas and China. This plant is cultivated in Jaunsar and Kamaon, India, where its leaves are eaten boiled as a vegetable. In 1852, it was cultivated in Germany as a spinach. This species has been recommended in France as a culinary vegetable but it does not appear to have met with much success. Its leaves cooked as spinach and its young shoots as asparagus were both said to possess an excellent flavor.

Phytolacca decandra Linn. Garget. Pocan. Scoke. Virginian Poke.

Originally from North America, this species has been distributed throughout Mexico Brazil, the Sandwich Islands and the region of the Mediterranean, even to Switzerland. It is occasionally used as a vegetable, and Barton says the young shoots are brought in great abundance to the Philadelphia market as a table vegetable. In Louisiana, says Rafinesque, it is called chou-gras and the leaves are eaten boiled in soup.

Phytolacca octandra Linn. Calalu.

Guiana and Jamaica. From this species comes a palatable, wholesome green. It is cultivated in most kitchen gardens in Jamaica. In Mexico, it is called verbachina. In China, it is an edible plant.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.