Indian Pokeweed - Phytolacca acinosa

Stout, tall, hairless plant which can exceed 2 metres in height, though often less. Stems are sometimes reddish. Leaves oval untoothed. Flowers greenish white, 5 to 6 mm in long racemes. Fruit ribbed and fleshy, purplish black when ripe.

Cultivated land, waste places and rubbish tips.

July to September.

Perennial.

Occasionally naturalised in Britain.

This Sapcote record of 2006 has been confirmed as the first record for Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was not recorded. This casual of 2006 was found self seeded in a garden location. We have checked back over 20 years to make sure that this species was never planted there. There was a second confirmed record of the plant in Sapcote in a different location in 2013.