Phytolacca americana (American Pokeweed)

This indigenous plant has a perennial root of large size, frequently exceeding a man’s leg in diameter, fleshy, fibrous, easily cut or broken, and covered with a thin brownish bark.  The stems are annual, about an inch in diameter, round, smooth, when young green, and grow from five to nine feet in height.  The leaves are scattered, petiolate, smooth on both sides, and about five inches long and three broad.  The flowers are numerous, small, and greenish-white in color; and the berries are round, dark purple, and in long clusters.