Had a trucker once ask if he could have the polk plant out behind our dumpster at work. He said it was the biggest he’d ever seen and explained how great they were par boiled with some catfish. It was eight feet tall. I let him take it. Can’t imagine what it tasted like seeing as how we all had watered it with gallons of consumed beer urine all summer long.
Young poke weed is sometimes eaten- but when it gets big it is a very bad idea.
Check out the link below:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002874.htm
If not properly prepared Polk Plant aka Poke Weed is poisonous, if not deadly. Re-checked this on google, because I was sure I had read this many years ago, probably in a book on New England wildflowers and plants that I used to have.