POKE, 41 
ticle. ‘The stalks, which are annual, frequently 
grow to the height of six, and even nine feet. 
They are round, smooth, and very much branch- 
ed. When young, their usual colour is green, 
but in most plants, after the berries have ripened, 
they are of a fine purple. The leaves are scatter- 
ed, petioled, ovate-oblong, smooth on both sides, 
ribbed underneath, entire, acute. The flowers 
grow on long pedunculated racemes opposite to 
leaves. Peduncles nearly smooth, angular, as- 
cending. Pedicels divaricated, sometimes branch- 
ed, green, white, or purple, furnished with a small 
linear bracte at base, and two others in the mid- 
dle. Calyx none. Corolla resembling a calyx, 
whitish, consisting of five reund-ovate, concave, 
incurving petals. Stamens ten, rather shorter 
than the petals, with white, roundish, two lobed 
anthers. Germ greenish, round, depressed, ten 
furrowed, Styles ten, short, recuryed. ‘The flow- 
ers are succeeded by long clusters of dark purple — 
berries, almost black, depressed or flattened, and 
marked with ten furrows on the sides. 
The dried root is light coloured and spongy, 
with a mild and somewhat sweetish taste. A part 
of it is soluble both in water and alcohol, and nei- 
ther of these substances renders turbid the solu- 
tion in the other, unless the solution has been in- 
; : 
