Elderberry vs. Pokeberry
an elderberry bush…this is about 10-12 feet tall.
notice the giant clusters of tiny berries as opposed to small long clusters of large berriesthere seems to be a lot of confusion with the identification of poke vs. the identification of elderberry…i never imagined that they could be taken for each other but i can see how that could cause confusion so i want to clear this up right now! i’ve had several people contact me about in the past few days and i don’t want anyone else to confuse the two.
large clusters of very tiny, bb sized berries
elderberries are tiny. they grow in clusters instead of a long cylindrical cone if that makes sense…picture queen anne’s lace or yarrow with berries and that’s what elderberries looks like. pokeberries are about the size of peas with a dent in each berry. elderberries are about the size of a bb.
this is poke…notice the poke berries hang in a long thin cluster as opposed to elderberry’s umbrella-like clusters
also, the stems of elderberry are thin and woody with brown flecks on them. the only part of the elder bush that is red is the stems that the berries are on and some of the leaf stems. pokeberry plant stems are generally a purply red.
notice the bumpy fleck on the stems of elderberry. the stems are tree/bark like. pokeberry stems are fleshy, non-woody.
compound leaf (many ‘leaflets’ on a stem of a leaf) of elderberry
hard to see here (see below for a better picture) but stems of leaves are opposite on elderberry
as an aside, pokeberries are not as poisonous as people make them out to be…yes, if you ate a bunch of the berries and chewed the seeds in them really well, you would probably puke a lot and may have more serious side effects but they don’t taste very good and the taste alone would stop you. swallowing a few berries will do nothing more than put your body into high gear to clear out your system. as long as you don’t chew the seeds, it’s not going to do a whole lot to you other than maybe give you diarrhea. (but please, don’t try eating them nevertheless!)
having said that, poke is an excellent lymph mover. i’ve used it a lot in the past for swollen lymph nodes and for plugged ducts that cause mastitis. it is a low dose medicinal but a very valuable one!
poke on the left, elderberry on the right. notice elderberries leaves are opposite on the stem
one final view side to side as they would hang on each plant. again, poke on the left, elderberry on the rightfor one more look at elderberry, watch tina sams’ video on the essential herbal facebook fanpage.
i hope this helps to clear up any confusion! please let me know if i need to post more pictures!
This was super helpful to me! I’ve tried to look online at several different comparisons of elderberry and pokeberry without much success coming away with a true knowlegde. Thank you for this though. I am not confused any more!
This was awesome and so helpful! Now I understand the difference
Thank you so much for this article. I’ve had the same experience as Danielle. Now, I realize that I have seen both and I’m pretty sure now that I will know the difference at a glance.
Good info! Thanks.
Your site was very helpful to me. I have looked on and off for 3 months for a comparison as I have a lot of ‘Poke” berries on my property, I am looking for Elderberries and thought that is what I had. Glad I found your site. Thank You
I have both the elderberry and the poke berries in the woods, but I was not sure what the poke berries were. Now I know for sure what each are. Thank you for helping with the identification of each.
I had a pokeberry growing in my herb garden and didn’t know what it was. I did dig it out last summer because I had a feeling that I didn’t want it there. After looking at these pictures it is obvious what it was!
Thank you for a clear comparision of Pokeberry and Elderberry plants. I am interested in locating Pokeberry plants so I might replicate a recipe a friend prepared for me many years ago.
Thank you for the wonderful pictures…I want to know more about herbs and find myself insecure with them. Now, you have confirmed that we do indeed have elderberries growing on our farm! NOW, I want to learn what I can do with them….thank you!
Thank you so much for clearing the difference, i have a whole punch of polk in my backyard and have been trying to find answers if it was elderberries or what! lol thank again
Super helpful!!!! Loved it, thanks!
Thank you SO much! I moved into a house a couple years ago and left the purpleberried bushes that grew like weeds (and since this house was a nightmare with no landscaping I figured they probably WERE weeds! ). I chopped them back this year (left them at first thinking maybe birds liked them) and was wondering what to do this year. I was so worried I had ripped out and demolished food! haha, nope… POKE instead!
this is the first site of the many I have searched to include a photos of BOTH and compare the clustering on each. THANK YOU! 