Evening star., 1946-11-11
This and That
By Charles Z. Trnce1DelI.
E. Tr1ceDell.
"BETHESDA. Nd,

Dear Sir:
"Just the other day a mockingbird
came to bush that has sprung up in
our front foundation planting. I left
the bush because Of the interest to the
children. 1t was poke berry! Some
bird probably planted it.
The mockingbird came and ate the
berries. Since had told the children
not to eat them, it was rather confusing
to have the bird devour them with great
relish right before their eyes.
Il can recall the time when I, as
child, made red ink out of poke ber-
ries, but do not remember seeing any
bird eat them.
Tell us something about the poke
berry bush, please.
Sincerely. P. McM."
The poke, sometimes called the Indian
poke, Is famous in herbal lore
1t belongs to the Phytolacca family.
The root is poisonous, the berries and
root emetic and purgative.
The dark purple juicy berries cause
no harm to birds, but most animals do
not eat them.
They make fairly good "ink" but
not good enough for most practical
purposes.
The plant is on the coarse side, with
long "leggy" canes It is one of the
roadside plants of America, whose
propagation is left mostly to the birds.
The poke berry bush is ornamental
when it is among better plants. It does
no harm, and pleases many of the birds,
so should be left whenever possible.
Modern children pay little attention
to it. In the older days, when pleasures
were simpler, most of the little ones
tried their hand at making a writing
fluid from the berries. We do not
recall that any child ever tried the
experiment more than once, so con-
clude, from the safe vantage of later
years, that the resulting link" if so it
could have been called, was not a
bowling success, even from a childish
standpoint.
While the poke berry bush cannot be
recommended for inclusion in borders,
it may be given the treatment accorded
to good guest.
That is, If one happens to come up,
do not rush to uproot it, but allow it
to mature, If for no other reason than
to recall ones childhood.
1t is an interesting plant. Like many
Of the things used In herbal lore, it has
an interest to the initiated completely
outside itself.
1t is possible to buy such things as
golden seal, bull nettle, black cohosh,
gentian, yellow dock, meadow sweet,
and scores more, but probably the best
way for the average household Is to
permit them to float in on the wind, or
be brought in by the birds.
This, of course, only If one is curious
by nature, not given to yanking up by
the roots everything instinctively
thought of es weed"
Weeds, after all, may be precious
plants to somebody!
There is a great lore, ancient as. the
hills, in the plants we now mostly re-
gard as weeds
A few Of them, such as the wild pota-
to. are so tenacious that we make q
mistake when we permit them to get
root-hold in our soil.
Mostly we will be wise to welcome
such visitors, and to permit them to
bloom at least for one season, just to
see what they are.
Plenty of really wild plants around
house will do their part toward attract
ing the birds. Birds are wild, them
selves; they are attracted by the plant
wildings. 1t may be that there is an
odor about truly wild plants which
really wild birds love. So do not be too
neat around your place. Raking up
leaves is one thing, but tearing out all
but a few plants is another. Let the
place go little wild, and be rewarded
by more birds both summer and winter.