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I am curious about #6. You have it listed as toxic. It is eaten here in Ky. When the leaves are small they are cooked like any other green. When the plant is large, the stalks are rolled in corn meal and fried. It looks exactly ike the picture with your article. Is there a similar plant by the same name that is not toxic?
Pokeweed contains phytolaccatoxin and phytolaccigenin, which are poisonous to mammals. However, the berries are eaten by birds, which are not affected by the toxin because the small seeds with very hard outer shells remain intact in the digestive system and are eliminated whole.
Young pokeweed leaves can be boiled three times to reduce the toxin, discarding the water after each boiling. The result is known as poke salit, or poke salad.
I guess it's similar to Rhubarb, the leaves are toxic but the stems are edible.
But, I'm puzzled by #6 as well. In my family (Maryland & Virginia) poke leaves were boiled and eaten like any other greens (collards, kale, mustard, turnip). Poke leaves lose a lot of volume when cooked-down - it took a large quantity to make "a mess". Usually, they were combined with other greens in the pot. I never heard the term "poke salit" until the CCR song "Poke Salit Annie" came out.
