All parts of the pokeweed are poisonous, with the highest concentrations in the rootstock. The leaves and stems are next in toxicity, and the berries have the smallest amount of poison. Pokeweed contains phytolaccatoxin and phytolaccigenin, which are poisonous to mammals. Several toxins have been identified in species of Phytolacca, usually concentrated in the roots, berries and seeds. These poisons include an alkaloid (phytolaccine), a resin (phytolaccatoxin), and a saponin (phytolaccigenin). However, children have been poisoned by eating raw pokeweed berries, and some have died. Severe poisonings have been reported in adults who ingested mature pokeweed leaves and following the ingestion of tea brewed from one-half teaspoonful of powdered pokeroot. The effects of eating the uncooked or improperly prepared plant may include nausea, retching or vomiting after two hours or more (sometimes bloody), watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headaches, blurred vision, confusion, dyspepsia, perspiration, spasms, severe purging, prostration, tremors, convulsions. dizziness, weakness, excessive yawning, slowed breathing, fast heartbeat, heart block (a blockage of the electrical impulses that stimulate the heart to contract) and possibly seizures, coma and death.

 If poke is eaten by animals: In horses it causes colic, diarrhea, respiratory failure. In swine: unsteadiness, inability to rise, retching, jerking movements of the legs, below-normal temperature.In cattle: same general signs plus a decrease in milk production.