Poke Salad

You may remember the 1968 Tony Joe White swamp-funk song, "Polk Salad Annie," which told the story of a young woman whose grandmother had been eaten by an alligator and whose mother was imprisoned and working on a chain gang, which everybody said was a shame. Her father complained of spinal troubles and her brothers were apparently not serious about pursuing careers. Despite the misspelling, what Annie collected was poke salad, a common weed in the midwestern and southern U.S. It is regularly eaten, but this is a bad idea, because it is poisonous. It is known for its large leaves, pink stems, and its especially poisonous (to people) dark purple berries, which leave a difficult-to-remove stain, all the more so when they have passed through the digestive tracts of birds that love to eat them. This of course helps spread their seeds.

The song can be found here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCSsVvlj6YA