Scarlet Sims - Polk Salad, 2026

9x12 watercolor and marker on paper

There’s a poisonous plant that grows tall with purple berries every fall, but in the spring, just as it starts to climb out of winter, you can pick the tops, boil out the poison and feed your family. We used to go out as a family unit – my grandparents, mother, cousins and aunt – to pick as much of it as we could. The plant was also used to “worm” the children annually because it has a cleansing effect. People who are not used to polk salad (pokeweed, polk sallet) often end up with “the runs.” This plant’s roots are also used as constipation remedies or for rheumatism as weak teas for people or as medicine for constipated chicks and chickens.