Phytolacca bogotensis, Southern Pokeweed, is a quick-growing perennial from the Andean tablelands where it grows from 2000-3500 metres above sea level. Widespread throughout the western parts of South America it is an exotic-looking Pokeweed with large glossy foliage and an attractive elongated inflorescence of pale pink flowers. The purple berries that follow turn black as they ripen.

Southern Pokeweed is very easy to grow and will form a large shrubby bush each season before dying down in the autumn with the onset of cold weather. It is moderately hardy and its large root system usually survives a British winter providing it has a well-drained substrate and is thickly mulched over winter. When the cold weather arrives in late autumn, cut back the foliage and cover the roots and base of the plant in leaves and bark.

A highly ornamental plant that is rarely encountered in British gardens.