''Phytolacca octandra'', also known as inkweed or red inkplant, is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

in the pokeweed family

Phytolaccaceae Phytolaccaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants. Though almost universally recognized by Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists, its circumscription has varied. It is also known as the Pokeweed family. The APG II system, of 2003 (unch ...

, originating from the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

Description

Inkweed is a member of the family

, growing up to . The leaves measure 6-15 cm in length.

Taxonomy

''Phytolacca octandra'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in the second edition of ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

'' in 1762. The name ''Phytolacca'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

word phyton ("plant") and the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word lacca ("red dye"), while ''Octandra'' is a Latin name referring to the eight stamens of the plant. The species is sometimes considered a synonym for ''Phytolacca icosandra''.

Distribution

The species is found globally in subtropical and tropical regions worldwide.

Gallery

Phytolacca octandra L. (AM AK71786).jpg, Herbarium specimen Phytolacca octandra 276868747.jpg, Flowers Phytolacca octandra 273205856.jpg, Leaves Phytolacca octandra 297992358.jpg, Ripe fruit (centre) and unripe fruit (right)

References

{{Authority control Flora of Northern America Flora of Southern America octandra Plants described in 1762 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus