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I think your plant is a pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. I have lots in my yard in Massachusetts. It has been identified by friends. There are also questions on our sister site, Gardening and Landscaping that discuss it. I think this has the best pictures and identification.

To answer your question though, the simplest thing for me is to search using Google. (It probably works with other search engines, but I've only ever used Google.) Pick out some words that characterize the plant, and see if it comes up. Even if you know only a little, it's possible to stumble on it.

In your case, it turned out to be easy. I don't have a description of the plant as a whole, and the most prominent feature I see in your picture is the stem and the berries. I went to Google and typed in "plant with long purple stems and purple berries." The first thing that came up was a list including some websites with descriptions and care information. That's often enough, depending on the plant and how much you want to learn about it.

• (Many gardeners choose Wikipedia as their primary source of information. It's in many languages, and has easily accessible scientific details. It's not generally my favorite, though, as it's harder to navigate and doesn't always have the best pictures, especially on its home page.)

• The plants that most closely match your description generally appear first. As you'll see, the farther down you look, the more you start to see plants with the same general characteristics but don't look quite like your plant. If you want to go farther, click on one of the pictures that most closely matches your plant. A smaller group of pictures will come up, with links to websites. By using this method, I chose the very first picture and was led to the "Illinois Wildflowers" site, which opened the page clearly identifying it. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/pokeweed.htm. (Again, search engines differ, so just pick one that most closely resembles your plant.)

To make sure you're getting the most accurate information, I recommend choosing a picture that is identified as coming from a gardening or plant identification website. Blogs often change, and may not be around if you want to find them later. Other sites, like Pinterest, have good pictures but not necessarily much more than that. Some of those are member-based, and also change and disappear over time. Again, though, if you just want to see more pictures of your plant, that's a fine choice.

I think your plant is a pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. I have a lot in my yard in Massachusetts. Our sister site, Gardening and Landscaping has a number of questions about pokeweed. I think this has the best pictures and identification.

To answer your question though, the simplest thing for me is to do an internet search. Choose words that characterize the plant, and see if it comes up. Even if you know only a little, it's possible to stumble on it.

Your case was relatively easy, especially if I'm correct! I don't have a description of the whole plant, but the most prominent features, including the stem and berries, are clear. I Googled "plant with long purple stems and purple berries." The first thing that came up was a list including some websites with descriptions and care information. That's often enough, depending on the plant and how much you want to learn about it. There are closely related plants, though, so you do need to be careful.

• (Many gardeners choose Wikipedia as their primary information source. It's in many languages, and has a lot of links to other Wikipedia pages. It's not my favorite, though. It's harder to navigate, doesn't always have the best pictures, especially on its home page, and their sources aren't always reliable.)

• The plants that most closely match your description generally appear first. As you look farther down, there are more plants with the same general characteristics but don't look quite like your plant. If you want to go farther, click on one of the pictures that most closely matches our pylant. A smaller group of pictures will come up, with links to websites. By using this method, I chose the very first picture and was led to the "Illinois Wildflowers" site, which opened the page clearly identifying it. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/pokeweed.htm. (Again, search engines differ, so just pick one that most closely resembles your plant.)

To make sure the information is most accurate, I recommend choosing a picture that is identified as coming from a gardening or plant identification website. Blogs often change or get deleted. Other sites have good pictures but not much more than that. An example is Pinterest, which is member-based, and ever changing. If you just want to see more pictures of your plant though, that's a fine choice.

I think your plant is a pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. I have lots in my yard in Massachusetts. It has been identified by friends. There are also questions on our sister site, Gardening and Landscaping that discuss it. I think this has the best pictures and identification.

To answer your question though, the simplest thing for me is to search using Google. (It probably works with other search engines, but I've only ever used Google.) Pick out some words that characterize the plant, and see if it comes up. Even if you know only a little, it's possible to stumble on it.

In your case, it turned out to be easy. I don't have a description of the plant as a whole, and the most prominent feature I see in your picture is the stem and the berries. I went to Google and typed in "plant with long purple stems and purple berries." The first thing that came up was a list including some websites with descriptions and care information. That's often enough, depending on the plant and how much you want to learn about it. (Many gardeners choose Wikipedia as their primary source of information. It's in many languages, and has easily accessible scientific details. It's not generally my favorite, though, as it's harder to navigate and doesn't always have the best pictures, especially on its home page.)

If you want an easy way to confirm the identification, choose the "images" tab at the top of the search results, or press on the list of images Google search page, and you'll get a page with many pictures of "plant with long purple stems and purple berries." In this case, here" is that page. The plants that most closely match your description generally appear first. As you'll see, the farther down you look, the more you start to see plants with the same general characteristics but don't look quite like your plant. If you want to go farther, click on one of the pictures that most closely matches your plant. A smaller group of pictures will come up, with links to websites. By using this method, I chose the very first picture and was led to the "Illinois Wildflowers" site, which opened the page clearly identifying it. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/pokeweed.htm. (Again, search engines differ, so just pick one that most closely resembles your plant.)

The simplest was purple stems berries

Some others:

Plant with dark purple berries

Dark purple berries on purple stem

Plant with purple stems and purple berries in Pennsylvania (You might not always want to use that, because if your plant's not native to Pennsylvania, it may not come up.)

I think your plant is a pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. I have lots in my yard in Massachusetts. It has been identified by friends. There are also questions on our sister site, Gardening and Landscaping that discuss it. I think this has the best pictures and identification.

To answer your question though, the simplest thing for me is to search using Google. (It probably works with other search engines, but I've only ever used Google.) Pick out some words that characterize the plant, and see if it comes up. Even if you know only a little, it's possible to stumble on it.

In your case, it turned out to be easy. I don't have a description of the plant as a whole, and the most prominent feature I see in your picture is the stem and the berries. I went to Google and typed in "plant with long purple stems and purple berries." The first thing that came up was a list including some websites with descriptions and care information. That's often enough, depending on the plant and how much you want to learn about it.

• (Many gardeners choose Wikipedia as their primary source of information. It's in many languages, and has easily accessible scientific details. It's not generally my favorite, though, as it's harder to navigate and doesn't always have the best pictures, especially on its home page.)

If you want an easy way to confirm the identification, choose the "images" tab at the top of the search results, or press on the list of images Google search page, and you'll get a page with many pictures of "plant with long purple stems and purple berries." In this case, here" is that page.

• The plants that most closely match your description generally appear first. As you'll see, the farther down you look, the more you start to see plants with the same general characteristics but don't look quite like your plant. If you want to go farther, click on one of the pictures that most closely matches your plant. A smaller group of pictures will come up, with links to websites. By using this method, I chose the very first picture and was led to the "Illinois Wildflowers" site, which opened the page clearly identifying it. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/pokeweed.htm. (Again, search engines differ, so just pick one that most closely resembles your plant.)

• The simplest was purple stems berries

Some others:

• Plant with dark purple berries

• Dark purple berries on purple stem

• Plant with purple stems and purple berries in Pennsylvania (You might not always want to use that, because if your plant's not native to Pennsylvania, it may not come up.)

I think your plant is a pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. I have lots in my yard in Massachusetts. It has been identified by friends. There are also questions on our sister site, Gardening and Landscaping that discuss it. I think this has the best pictures and identification.

I think your plant is a pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. I have lots in my yard in Massachusetts. It has been identified by friends. There are also questions on our sister site, Gardening and Landscaping that discuss it. I think this has the best pictures and identification.