POKEWEED 



Fruit. — Juicy, dark purple berries, hanging in racemes 

 from reddened peduncles. 



Pollinated by bees and flies. Nectar-bearing. Anthers 

 mature before the stigma. 



Through the long, hot days of summer the Poke- 

 weed plant has been pushing upward and outward, 

 growing vigorously and uniting with the verdure 

 which surrounds it and of which it is a part, and then 

 some day one becomes conscious of an arborescent 

 herb holding out on its many branches long racemes 

 heavy with shining berries that are full of crimson 

 juice. At fruiting time the plant glows and throbs 

 with color. "All on fire with ripeness," it flames in 

 crimson; stem, branches, branchlets, fruit stems, 

 and pedicels, petioles, midribs, and veinlets, all red — 

 a glowing red. To find this superb creature stand- 

 ing alone, unhurt by man or beast, rising eight to ten 

 feet by roadside or waterw^ay, unseen before but now 

 dominating its neighbors in regal fashion, is an experi- 

 ence. It yields slowly and reluctantly to the changes 

 of the closing year, it possesses the will to live, and 

 live it will. One often finds racemes even in Novem- 

 ber which bear at once shining fruit, open flowers, 

 and growing buds, while around and upon it beat the 

 storms of coming winter. 



47 



