Pokeweed and Burnweed: Friend or Foe?

 Visiting Brightwood Park these days, you may have noticed the air being filled with white fluffy seeds of American Burnweed (Erechtites hieraciifolius) floating in the breeze. Or noticed the striking dark purple berries hanging on pink stems from towering Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) plants.

Both plants are native to the Eastern United States. They are ruderal species which colonize disturbed areas first. Such sites are characterized by open soil and a lack of vegetation. Here, in Brightwood Park, these conditions exist in areas where volunteers have removed the exotic and aggressively spreading Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) over the last years. Burnweed and Pokeweed are able to establish themselves in these sunny and dry spots either from having been dormant in the seed bank or from being carried in by wind (Burnweed) or by birds (Pokeweed). 

Both plants are considered weeds (as shown by their given common name) in agriculture and horticulture: they compete for water, light, and nutrients with the desired plants and they lack beautiful, admirable leaves and flowers.

So, do they pose a problem in Brightwood Park? 
Burnweed is an annual plant that grows anew from seed every year. It grows up to 8 feet tall, is pollinated by certain wasps and bees, but does not offer much value to birds and mammals. Pokeweed on the other hand is a perennial plant that regrows several years from a deep taproot. It can also reach 8 feet in height, pollinated by Syrphid flies and Halictid bees, and its berries are desired by some mammals and numerous bird species such as waxwings, mockingbirds, and thrushes. 
Both plants provide food to wildlife and add organic matter to the soil as they decompose each winter. During the growing season, as they reach several feet by summer, they create dappled shade conditions for plants such as seedlings of shrubs and trees growing among and underneath them. The latter become protected from direct sun and hot temperatures and have a better chance of survival. As in turn the shrubs and trees grow to be taller than the Burnweed and Pokeweed they will create shade too dense for these sun loving pioneers and change the composition of the habitat. Other insects, animals and plants will then find food and shelter there. 
Come and watch ecological succession happen in Brightwood Park!


Read more on Pokeweed

Find more information on Burnweed

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Burnweed shades seedlings improving their chance to survive (less direct sun = less evaporation and transpiration). In turn, the recently planted tree requires less watering.
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Pokeweed shade performs as the burnweed, i.e. improves the seedling's ability to survive and grow.

​Returning Native Plants

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Restoration of Brightwood Park is underway... one native plant at a time!  In just three years, quite a variety of native plants have reappeared:

  • Some native plants have sprouted from long buried seeds.  Jack-in-the-pulpits once reigned before Knotweed edged them out.  These natives are making a comeback.  Burnweed has taken hold of some of the former Wisteria areas.  This plant gets its name because it is one of the first to repopulate after forest fires.  Pokeweed has also resurged providing nutritious native berries for birds and animals.
  • Meadow, forest understory, and shoreline native plants have taken root in the demonstration gardens planted by the Friends of Brightwood Park.
  • Some native plants have sprouted from seeds spread in various locations by the Friends of Brightwood Park.  In the spring and summer you may find black-eyed Susans popping up here and there.  A variety of other native seeds have been sown in various areas of the park.
  • Some native trees and shrubs have been planted in reforestation efforts by Eagle Scout Oliver Agar, Master Gardener Rafael Betancourt, and by volunteers with the Friends of Brightwood Park.

Below are just some of the native plants in Brightwood Park.  See how many native plants you can find and identify!  If you spot one not identified here, take a photo and email us.  We will post it!
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Resources

​This new native plant guide for school yards was just published and shared. I think it is a wonderful resource!!!

Bianca
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American Holly Ilex opaca 


FOBP's Fall 2023 forest restoration project included American holly plants.  This slow growing evergreen with spiky leaves is a particularly hearty species.  It generally grows to between 15’ to 30.’  It requires male and female plants to produce berries.  From May to June the American holly blooms greenish yellow blossoms.  Berries appear in the fall if pollinated.


From a biodiversity standpoint, this plant acts as a host plant for butterfly larva and adult butterflies and bees feed on its flower nectar.  Songbirds and small mammals eat its fruit.  As an evergreen, it also provides cover to small mammals in the winter.
American hornbeam Carpinus caroliniana


FOBP's Fall 2023 forest restoration project included American hornbeam.  The hornbeam is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree that grows in a forest understory.  It can reach 20-35’ tall and about the same width in branch spread.  In the fall its leaves turn an orange-red.


This tree is a host plant for two types of butterflies.  Its seeds and buds are food for songbirds, fox and squirrels.  It branches are shelter and cover for a variety of animals.  
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Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum

Anise Hyssop' blue-purple flowers bloom from July through September.  The flowers give off a licorice and mint scent that attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and ladybugs.  

This plant likes sunny and tolerates part shade.  It needs damp soil with periodic saturation.  It is deer resistant.

https://www.finegardening.com/plant/anise-hyssop-agastache-foeniculum


​White Snakeroot Ageratina altissima

White Snakeroot blooms clusters of delicate white flowers later in the Summer and into the Fall.  This herbaceous plant has a toxin tremetol that is poisonous to animals.  However, its nectar attracts a number of butterfly and moth species.  It is a larval host for a few moth species.

Historically, tremetol in this plant was credited with causing fatal milk sickness in humans who drank milk from cows that had fed on it.  t is believed that Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln succumbed to this illness.

https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=6792f38b-4f6f-453d-aa97-84f4e95434dc
Aromatic Sumac Rhus aromatice 

Master Gardener, Rafael Betancourt, planted aromatic sumac on the hillside from the parking lot to the pond.  This deciduous shrub will grown between 6' to 12' tall.  Its roots will help stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.  It will also help to keep invasive plants from re-establishing on the slope.

It blooms flowers in the spring before leaves appear.  In the fall, its leaves turn red, yellow and orange.  Its aromatic spring flowers provide nectar for butterflies, and fall berries sustain birds.  It is a larval host for red-banded hairstreak butterfly.
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Black eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta 

FOBP spread black eyed Susan seeds in various locations in the park.  The bright yellow, daisy like flowers popped up around the park in 2023.  Here they can be seen peeking through a profusion of burnweed.

Black eyed Susans attract bees, butterflies and other nectar seeking insects.    Birds enjoy their seeds.  It is a larval host for two types of butterflies, 


Burnweed Erechtites hieraticfolius

This plant is known as a "pioneer" plant that will grow happily in burned out fields (hence the name).  It is a fast growing plant that can reach 8' to10' in a growing season.  It develops white flowers whose seeds disperse on silvery threads.  It has a shallow root system.

Burnweed's nectar attracts bees, butterflies and birds.  Its leaves provide shelter and a place for courting insects.


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Blue Mistflower Conoclinium coelestinum

​Blue mistflower blooms in late summer into fall in sunny or partly shady spots.  Its nectar attracts bees and and a wide number of butterflies including monarchs, swallowtails, queens, soldiers, pearl crascents, white peacocks, and little yellows.

Blue mistflower can grow up to 3' high and spreads by rhizomes as well as seeds.   Its seeds need cold stratification to germinate in the springtime.

​https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/conoclinium-coelestinum/
​https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/conoclinium-coelestinum/
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Butterfly Weed  Asclepias tuberosa a species of Milkweeds

Butterfly weed attracts many varieties of butterflies and helpful insects.  Like all milkweeds, its leaves contain some toxicity.  When caterpillars feed on its leaves, they acquire some level of protection against predation.  However, as it is less toxic than other milkweeds, its leaves do not offer quite as much protection.  

Monarch butterflies are now an endangered species.  Monarchs lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed leaves.  When the eggs hatch, the caterpillars eat only the milkweed leaves, whose  toxicity help them survive.  However, this milkweed species is not quite as helpful as other milkweed plants.

Nonetheless, it is a key plant for pollinators and butterflies.  We are happy to see its blooms in Brightwood Park!

​https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/asclepias_tuberosa.shtml
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Common blue violet Viola sororia

The Common Blue Violet bears five petaled blue/purple flowers in mid to late spring.  Both the flowers and heart shaped leaves are edible.  These pretty native plants are packed with vitamins A and C.  A medicinal herb, this plant has anti-inflammatory properties.

This native plant is very adaptable and grows well in a variety of locations.  It spreads by rhizomes.  Its flowers attract bees, and a variety of wildlife feed off its leaves and flowers.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy4GduUewHY
Chestnut Oak Quercus montana 

As part of his master gardener project, Rafael Betancourt, planted chestnut oaks in the area near the hillside down from the parking lot.  Chestnut oaks belong in the white oak family.  It can grow to between 60' to 140' tall.    It is considered a medium to large canopy tree that will help reforestation  in an area where few saplings were present.

These trees support butterflies, moths, and a wide variety of mammals.  In the Fall, chestnut oaks produce large acorns that are an important food source for small mammals.
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False Sunflower ​Heliopsis helianthoides

False Sunflower grows to between 3' and 5' tall.  Its yellow flowers bloom from June through September attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, and other beneficial insects.
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Foxglove Beardtongue a species of Penstemon Penstemon Digitalis


Planted in the meadow demonstration garden, foxglove beardtongue grows to about 3' tall.   Its long tubular white flowers attract bees, butterflies, humming birds and other beneficial insects.
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Ghost Pipes Monotropa uniflora

​Most plants get their energy from the sun through a process of photosynthesis.  Chlorophyll in the plant transforms sunlight into energy.  Since chlorophyll is green, plants are green.  When weather turns cold, chlorophyll breaks down and leaves lose their green color.  The plants then have to rely upon stored energy until the weather warms up and chlorophyll returns.  
 
Ghost pipes grow in dense or dark forests where they cannot depend on sunlight for energy.  Instead, they rely upon energy from trees.  Tree leaves with chlorophyll feed the tree.  The trees in turn form a partnership underground with a special kind of fungi called mycorrhizas.  This fungi fuses with tree roots to help the tree extract water and nutrients from the ground.  In exchange, the trees give the fungi carbon-rich sugars.  Ghost pipes in turn reap the benefits from those sugars when they mingle with the fungi to exchange nutrients.  At the end of the season, ghost pipes turn black and develop seed pods to ensure their lineage will continue. 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit Arisaema triphyllum

Years ago, there was a field of jack-in-the pulpits in the park.  No doubt seeds were left dormant until they had an opportunity to sprout.  A few intrepid plants have burst through the soil in the last few years!  

On a long stalk, the plant grows two leaves with three leaflets.   Jack-in-the-pulpits develop a single cylindrical hooded flower in the summer.  In late summer, it develops berries that birds and mammals eat.  The berries are toxic to humans.

Jack-in-the-pulpit seeds require cold stratification to germinate.
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​Spicebush Lindera benzoin

Native to New Jersey, spicebush is a deciduous shrub that can grow between 6' and 12.'  It ihas spicy scented leaves and stems.  Spicebush clusters of yellow flowers bloom in the early spring.  In the fall and winter, it produces red berries.  

Spicebush is a larval host for three species of butterflies:  Spicebush Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and Promethea Silkmoth.  In winter months, its red berries are a food source for birds.

https://www.jerseyyards.org/plant/lindera-benzoin/
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​Pokeweed  Phytolacca americana

Pokeweed is a plant that reappeared in the park most likely from bird droppings!  It is a fast growing perennial that can reach up to almost 5' in a season.  Although toxic to humans, its fall berries provide an important and nutritious meal to migratory birds.

Historically, native Americans used the berries to make dyes and for medicinal purposes.  During the civil war, it was used to make ink for letters and dye for fabrics.
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Purple Coneflower Echinacea
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Shagbark or common hickory   Carya ovata 

FOBP's Fall 2023 forest restoration project included many common hickory trees.  This deciduous tree can grow to over 100’ tall and live up to 350 years.  It is a slow growing tree that will support the forest canopy for years to come.  
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Hickory nuts are a food source for many of the animals that reside in Brightwood Park.  In particular, its nuts are a preferred food for squirrels.  The nuts are also a part of the diets of chipmunks, fox, rabbits and mice.   Birds such as mallards and wood ducks that often live in Brightwood also eat hickory nuts.  However, deer seldom browse on it if another food source is available.
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White Aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
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White Oak Quercus alba 
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FOBP's Fall 2023 forest restoration project included many white oak trees.  These trees get their name from the color of its finished wood.  Its bark is actually a light grey.  These slow-growing trees can reach up to 100’ tall and live from 200 to 300 years.  


Oaks are said to be one of the most important deciduous trees due to the variety of life they support.  The saplings can begin to produce acorns at about 20 years old, but do not produce large harvests until age 50 or so.  The acorns feed a variety of animals and birds found in Brightwood including wood ducks, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels and deer.  It is also the only food plant for certain types of moths and caterpillars.  Deer will also forage on its leaves.
Why the protective mesh enclosures on some of the trees?

As noted, deer browse on saplings.  Unless the saplings are protected in this vulnerable stage, they will not survive.  Until the trees can establish themselves, they will need to be protected.