Please ID this plant - has tiny blue/purple berries

16 years ago

Next to my gardenia, about 2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. I did not plant this; a bird must have for me. It's been growing since January.

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Comments (9)

honeybunny2 Fox
16 years ago
It is a weed, if you do not get it in time, it will grow into a bush like you have. It has a great root system, so soak the ground before you pull it up. You will be seeing alot of babies, I have been trying to get rid of it for years, it grows in sun or shade, and it grows really fast. Barbra,
denisew
16 years ago
It is Solanum nigrum - a member of the nightshade family. The common name is blackberry nightshade. I did an image google on nightshade and came across a photo that was the same as your flowers and sure enough, that was the plant. It is poisonous to people, but birds eat the fruit with no problems.
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wendywc
Original Author
16 years ago
Hmmm, I think I'll pull it and put in the bare spot, far corner of my yard. Thanks for the ID!
missinformation
16 years ago
It's also called pokeweed, I think. We had one come up last year, and i really liked the way it looked. The chickens hopped up and down until they'd eaten every last berry, then I pulled it.
pjtexgirl
16 years ago
Pokeberry has long old drupes of berries and is edible if you get the leaves young and boil it a few times. This is Deadly Nightshade and will kill ya! Here's a pokeberry pic.
I love pokeberry. It's invasive and all but the birds LOVE it so it's fitting with my aggressive native xeriscape.

Here is a link that might be useful: pokeberry
missinformation
16 years ago
That's what I had alright. I had forgotten the red stalk and stems. Regardless, I wouldn't eat either, but it was funny seeing the chickens hopping up and down to get the highest berries, and I thought it was kind of pretty with everything else in my crazy backyard.
wendywc
Original Author
16 years ago
eh, I think I killed it on the transplant to the corner of the yard. The leaves are all wilted, but maybe it'll come back in a week or two.
pjtexgirl
16 years ago
I'll bet even if the parent plant croaks you'll probably get babies in the spring next year. PJ
denisew
16 years ago
I had pokeweed come up next to our basketball goal next to the driveway one year. I didn't know what it was and let it grow. When I found out it would reseed all over, I pulled it out. The plant in the picture is definitely not pokeweed.

Wendy - I'm sure if you plant a couple of those berries that were ripe, they would grow for you.