American Nightshade (Phytolacca americana)

← Back to the species catalog

Identidad taxonómica

Scientific name: Phytolacca americana L.
Canonical name: The scientific name without its authorship or date, for example Zea mays instead of Zea mays L.: Phytolacca americana
Authorship: The author or authors credited with publishing the scientific name. It is written after the name, sometimes with the year, for example L. (Linnaeus) in Zea mays L. An author in parentheses first published the name in another genus or rank.: L.
Common names: American Nightshade, American Pokeweed, American spinach, Cancer Jalap, Cancer Root, Chongras, Coakum, Common Pokeberry, Common Pokeweed, Garget, Inkberry, Jalap, Kermes Bush, North American pokeweed, Pigeo, Poke, Pigeonberry, Pocan, Pocan Bush, Poke, Pokeberry, Pokeroot, Pokeweed, Red Ink Plant, Red-Ink Plant, Redweed, Scoke, Scoke Berry, Shoke, Virginia Poke, Virginian Poke, Virginian Pokeweed, garnet, pidgeon berry, poke salad, poke sallet
Names in other languages (100)
Amerikaanse Karmozijnbes, Amerikanische Kermesbeere, Amerikanische Kermesbeere (DE); American Pokeweed (EN); Hierba carmin (ES), Amerikansk kermesbær, Amerikinė fitolaka, Asiatische Kermesbeere, Carmaz, Cremesina, Cremesina Uva-Turca, Cremesina uva turca, Cârmâz, Faux Vin, Fitolacca americana, Herba tintureira, Herbe à la Laque, Kermesbeere, Kosiba, Phytolaca americanit, Phytolaque d'Amérique, Faux vin, Raisin d'Amérique, Vigne de Judée, Herbe à la laque, Raisin d'Amérique, Phytolaque d'Amérique, Raisin d'Amérique, Phytolaque américaine, Laque végétale, Raisin d'Amerique, Raisin d'Amérique, Raisin d’Amérique, Raïm de moro, Rumeioara, Russett, Scharlakansbär, Shukara, Szkarłatka amerykańska, Teinturier, Tintureira, Uva da colorare, Uva de españa, Uva turca, Vigne de Judée, Vinobojka, Westerse karmozijnbes, a. karmazsinbogyó, agriostafida, alkörmös, ameerika kermesmari, amerikai alkörmös, amerikanskt kermesbär, arbre de tinta, baga-moira, belladona borda, caruru-bravo, chui xu shang lu, erva-dos-cachos-da-india, escopetes, espinacas de America, fitolaca, fruto-de-pombo, grana encarnada, hierba carmín, hierba de la oblea, inkbos, k'áábehíbéshee, karmazsinbogyó, karmosynbos, lännenkermesmarja, lí, líčidlo americké, maamilaneewiaahkwia, navadna barvilnica, osa, o’sheä’, phytolaque américaine, phytolaque d'Amérique, phytolaque damérique, phytolaque d’Amérique, raim de Sant Salvi, raim de guilla, raim de l´escopeta, raim de moro, red stem pokeweed, rem de moro, teinturière, tinge-ovos, tinta, tintilla, tumbi-a-mboiki, uva-da-america, uva-dos-passarinhos, uva-dos-tintureiros, uvas de América, uvas de Indias, uves d'américa, vinagreira, épinard de Cayenne, épinard des Indes, Şekerciboyası, Багрина звичайна, Винобојка, Лаконос американский, פיטולקה, פיטולקה אמריקאית, พิษลักษณ์, アメリカヤマゴボウ, ヨウシュヤマゴボウ
Kingdom: One of the broadest ranks of biological classification. It groups organisms that share very basic features, for example plants (Plantae), animals (Animalia) or fungi (Fungi).: Plantae
Phylum: Rank below kingdom that groups organisms with a shared general body plan, for example chordates (Chordata), arthropods (Arthropoda) or vascular plants (Tracheophyta). In botany the same rank is also called division.: Tracheophyta
Class: Rank below phylum, for example mammals (Mammalia), birds (Aves), insects (Insecta) or monocot plants such as grasses and orchids (Liliopsida).: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rank below class that groups related families, for example grasses and their relatives (Poales) or bats (Chiroptera).: Caryophyllales
Family: Rank below order that groups related genera. Family names usually end in -aceae in botany (for example Poaceae, the grass family) and in -idae in zoology (for example Felidae, the cat family).: Phytolaccaceae
Genus: Rank that groups closely related species. Its name is the first word of a species' scientific name and starts with a capital letter, for example Zea in Zea mays.: Phytolacca
Specific epithet: The second word of a species' scientific name. On its own it does not name the species: it always goes with the genus, for example mays in Zea mays.: americana
Taxonomic rank: The level a name occupies in the hierarchy of biological classification, such as kingdom, family, genus, species or subspecies.: species
Reference species: Phytolacca americana
Taxonomic status: Whether the taxonomic catalogue the record comes from currently accepts this name for the organism, or treats it as a synonym of another accepted name or as doubtful.: accepted name

Photos and conservation status

IUCN Red List category: The extinction-risk category that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assigns to a species on its Red List. EX Extinct: there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. EW Extinct in the wild: it survives only in cultivation, in captivity or as a population far outside its past range. CR Critically endangered, EN Endangered and VU Vulnerable: the three threatened categories, from an extremely high to a high risk of extinction in the wild. NT Near threatened: close to qualifying as threatened. LC Least concern: evaluated and not threatened. DD Data deficient: there is not enough information to assess its risk. NE Not evaluated: not yet assessed against the criteria. It describes the risk of the species worldwide, not its situation in a project's area.: Not available.

No photos have been requested for this species yet.

Interacciones documentadas

GloBI says it is documented somewhere in the world. Biolitica answers whether it could happen here.

A documented interaction means it was recorded somewhere in the world. It does not mean it occurs here.

Types shown: 1 of 12 has its flowers visited by × 11 more types with data for this species

Flower visit

has its flowers visited by 93 organisms

The authority declares no effect on this species for this term: neither that it harms it nor that it benefits it. Visiting a flower is not pollinating it. «Pollinates» is a different term and a different block, and merging the two is the measured defect that turned ~88 shared «pollinators» into birds and primates.

Organism	Reads as	Studies	Where it was documented	Actions
European Honey Bee Apis mellifera Apidae	has its flowers visited by	11	not compared
11 sources · 11 records https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/309078307 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Aug. 21, 2025 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7633436 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Aug. 24, 2017 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7634483 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Aug. 24, 2017 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/128247438 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 26, 2022 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/235549396 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Aug. 13, 2024 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/239409618 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Sept. 2, 2024 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/241893763 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Sept. 15, 2024 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/387026193 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 31, 2026 · Human observation And 3 more sources, with fewer records, not listed here. A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Eastern Calligrapher Toxomerus geminatus Syrphidae	has its flowers visited by	9	not compared
9 sources · 9 records https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/298185463 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 15, 2025 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/301521562 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 26, 2025 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/303958982 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Aug. 5, 2025 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3746434 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 25, 2016 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/304254907 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Aug. 6, 2025 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7334623 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 27, 2017 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/87062519 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 14, 2021 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/87159055 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 14, 2021 · Human observation And 1 more source, with fewer records, not listed here. A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Humped Beewolf Philanthus gibbosus Crabronidae	has its flowers visited by	6	not compared
6 sources · 6 records https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/302323848 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 30, 2025 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16152249 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 22, 2016 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/230890051 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 21, 2024 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190012088 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 24, 2022 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/86080949 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 7, 2021 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88988263 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 28, 2021 · Human observation A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Dialictus Halictidae	has its flowers visited by	5	not compared	Not a modelling unit: the source publishes it at genus level.
5 sources · 6 records https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52420054 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Record contexts (sample): no place published · July 7, 2020 · Human observation; no place published · July 7, 2020 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/298308563 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 10, 2025 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/56670338 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Aug. 16, 2020 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88346780 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 23, 2021 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88863977 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · July 27, 2021 · Human observation A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.

Showing 4 of 93, by number of studies See more of this type

Interaction data from Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI), GloBI 0.11. Each row keeps the citation its own study published.

Interactions are published at species level: they are not resolved by variety or race.

Each block is headed by the source's own term, read from this species' end — not by a category of ours. Two similar terms are not merged.

«Documented here» means the interaction was observed in this territory. It is not evidence that the species is here, and it does not enter the niche model.

Acompañantes documentados

This agronomic reading comes from a source reserved for internal use, so it is not shown here.

Documented uses and recommendations

Uses and recommendations that a source documents for this species beside a crop, each in its own context. They are the source's statements, not traits of the species and not Biolítica's recommendations, and none of them is a relation between two species.

Among the sources you can read, none documents a use or recommendation of this species beside a crop.