Phytolacca acinosa Roxb.

 
  • Family : PHYTOLACCACEAE
    (Pokeweed Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : POKEBERRY FAMILY
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Phytolaccacea
  • Synonym(s) : Phytolacca esculenta Van Houtte; Phytolacca kaempferi A.Gray; Phytolacca pekinensis Hance; Pircunia esculenta (Van Houtte) Moq.; Sarcoca acinosa (Roxb.) Skalický; Sarcoca esculenta (Van Houtte) Skalický
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Phytolacca acinosa Roxb.
  • Common name : Indian Pokeweed, Himalayan Pokeberry, Indian poke, Indian pokeberry
  • Habit : Herb
  • Habitat : Clearings and roadsides in Warm broad-leaved forests, around cultivation and habitation, 900 - 3000 m. altitude
  • Comments / notes : Plant said to have narcotic properties and produces a bitter toxic substance. The leaves make an excellent pot-herb if well boiled.
  • Key identification features : A nearly hairless herbaceous plant with robust succulent stems 90-150 cm, with large lanceolate leaves, and with long dense erect cylindrical clusters of greenish-white flowers borne opposite the leaves. Flower clusters 5-15 am; corolla c. 7 mm across, with 5 obovate spreading perianth-segments; stamens 8-10. Leaves mostly 15-25 cm, long-pointed, entire, narrowed to a short stalk. Each fruit with about 8 fleshy dark purple carpels, the fruits crowded into stout cylindrical clusters 10-20 cm long.
  • Flower, Fruit : April-September
  • Distribution :
    • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
    • Sikkim : Sikkim
    • Himachal Pradesh : Kinnaur district
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Kameng
  • Native : Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Myanmar, Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Temperate East Asia and Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Rus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Wisconsin, Yugoslavia
  • Literature :
    • Uniyal B.P., Sharma J.R., Choudhery U., Singh D.K. (2007). Flowering Plants of Uttarakhand: A Checklist. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh: 206
    • GRIERSON A.J.C. & LONG D.G. (1983). FLORA OF BHUTAN INCLUDING A RECORD OF PLANTS FROM SIKKIM Vol. 1: Part 2. ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, EDINBURGH: 191
    • Oleg P & Adam S (1984). Flowers of Himalaya. Oxford University Press: 1177
    • G.S Giri., A.Pramanik., H.J. Chowdhery., G.D Pal and S.K. Das (2008). Materials for Arunachal Pradesh, Vol (2), Pg: 306
  • Read more :
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Phytolacca acinosa. Downloaded on 9 October 2024.

Field Image(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution

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