This plant popped up in my garden a couple of years ago. Initially, I let it grow as I was curious to know what it was. Now that it has grown, it's producing these strange looking black fruits. I am particularly interested to know whether this presents any problems for children or pets, so I can either keep it or get rid of it. Any help in identifying this would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
I disagree. This is very probably Phytolacca esculenta. It cannot be Phytolacca americana. Btw this question could have remained in the wildflower forum. Phytolacca esculenta is naturalized in Germany (and probably also in the Netherlands) and sometimes quite weedy. So it should qualify as a wild plant.
Yes, I suppose it could have remained there. "popped up in my garden", though, tends to make one think if that one was using a regional flora, they wouldn't be able to find it in the listing of plants.
