Phytolacca americana

Phytolacca americana is a perennial herb occurring in disturbed areas, roadsides, pastures, clearings, thickets, coastal sands, and woodland borders of North America and Mexico, and it is introduced in Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia. This species is considered a "native weed" of North America, and is a ubiquitous plant of urban, suburban, and agricultural settings. Little is known about threats or trends, but with a large range extent, a high number of occurrences, abundant habitat, broad habitat preferences, and no obvious intrinsic vulnerabilities, Phytolacca americana is considered secure.

The native range of Phytolacca americana is in North America from Ontario east to New Brunswick, Canada, and Maine south to Florida, west to California and Oregon, excluding western middle and northern United States (FNA 2003, POWO 2024). This species is native to Mexico and introduced to Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia (POWO 2024). The native range extent was estimated to be over 8 million square kilometers using herbarium specimens and photo-based observations collected between 1993 and 2024 (GBIF 2024, iNaturalist 2024, SEINet 2024). See individual entries for distribution details about the two varieties.

By applying a 1 km separation distance to herbarium specimens and photo-based observations documented between 1993 and 2024, it is estimated that there are over 2,500 occurrences in the native range of this species (GBIF 2024, iNaturalist 2024, SEINet 2024).

Although threats are not widely documented, Phytolacca americana is potentially threatened by development, rights-of-way maintenance, invasive species, succession, and other threats in some places. However, their overall impact is likely negligible given the species' broad range, large number of occurrences, tolerance of light disturbance, and affinity for typically abundant habitats, as well as no obvious intrinsic vulnerabilities.