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Marcus, Joseph A. (Austin, TX)

Callicarpa americana L.

American beautyberry, French mulberry

Verbenaceae (Verbena Family)

USDA Symbol: CAAM2

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

American beauty-berry most often grows 3-5 ft. tall and usually just as wide, It can reach 9 ft. in height in favorable soil and moisture conditions. It has long, arching branches and yellow-green fall foliage, but its most striking feature is the clusters of glossy, iridescent-purple fruit (sometimes white) which hug the branches at leaf axils in the fall and winter. Bark light brown on the older wood, reddish brown on younger wood. Bark smooth, with elongate, raised corky areas (lenticels); twigs round to 4 sided, covered with branched hairs visible under a l0x hand lens. Leaves in pairs or in threes, blades half as wide as long and up to 9 inches long, ovate to elliptic, pointed or blunt at the tip and tapered to the base; margins coarsely toothed except toward the base and near the tip, teeth pointed or rounded; lower surface of young leaves covered with branched hairs. Flowers small, pink, in dense clusters at the bases of the leaves, clusters usually not exceeding the leaf petioles. Fruit distinctly colored, rose pink or lavender pink, berrylike, about 1/4 inch long and 3/16 inch wide, in showy clusters, persisting after the leaves have fallen.

The seeds and berries are important foods for many species of birds, particularly the Northern Bobwhite, and the foliage is a favorite of White-tailed Deer.

 

From the Image Gallery

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Shrub
Root Type: Tap
Leaf Retention: Deciduous
Leaf Arrangement: Opposite
Leaf Complexity: Simple
Size Class: 3-6 ft.
Leaf Shape: Elliptic , Ovate
Leaf Margin: Serrate
Fruit Type: Drupe
Size Notes: Grows 3 to 6 high and 4 to 6 wide.
Leaf Color: Green
Autumn Foliage: yes
Stamens: Exserted
Fruit Color: Purple, sometimes white

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: White , Pink
Bloom Time: May , Jun , Jul

Distribution

USA: AL , AR , FL , GA , LA , MD , MS , MO , NC , OK , SC , TN , TX , VA
Native Distribution: VA to AR, s. to FL & e. TX
Native Habitat: Found in woods, moist thickets, wet slopes, low rich bottomlands, and at the edges of swamps in the Piney Woods, Post Oak Woods, Blackland woodlands, and coastal woodlands. Moist woods; coastal plains; swamp edges, bottomlands
USDA Native Status: L48(N)

Growing Conditions

Water Use: Low
Light Requirement: Part Shade
Soil Moisture: Moist
CaCO3 Tolerance: Medium
Cold Tolerant: yes
Heat Tolerant: yes
Soil Description: Moist, rich soils, Sandy, Sandy Loam, Medium Loam, Clay Loam, Clay, Acid-based, Calcareous
Conditions Comments: American beautyberry is a wonderful, large understory shrub with a naturally loose and graceful arching form. In the fall and early winter, the branches are laden with magenta purple (sometimes white) berry clusters that look spectacular as the leaves drop in autumn. It is useful as a screen in swampy or wooded locations or under shade trees in a garden setting. It can be cut to 12 above the base each winter to encourage more compact growth, flowers and fruit. It can also be left to mature naturally into a tall woody shrub. The shrub may temporarily defoliate and lose developing fruit during periods of prolonged summer drought.
Texas comments: American beautyberry is a large understory shrub with a naturally loose and graceful arching form. In the fall and early winter, the branches are laden with magenta purple (sometimes white) berry clusters. It is useful as a screen in swampy or wooded locations or under shade trees in a garden setting. It can be cut to 12 above the base each winter to encourage more compact growth, flowers and fruit. The shrub may temporarily defoliate and lose developing fruit during periods of prolonged summer drought.

Benefit

Use Ornamental: Of considerable value for edge landscapes and surface mine reclamation. Good understory shrub. Easily propagated and requires little maintenance.
Use Wildlife: Valuable as a wildlife food plant.
Use Medicinal: Native American used root and leaf tea in sweat baths for rheumatism, fevers, and malaria. Root tea used for dysentery, stomach aches. Root and berry tea used for colic.
Conspicuous Flowers: yes
Fragrant Foliage: yes
Attracts: Birds , Butterflies
Nectar Source: yes
Deer Resistant: None

Propagation

Propagation Material: Seeds
Description: Seed, Root cuttings, softwood tip cuttings and to a much lesser extent division of mature clumps
Commercially Avail: yes
Maintenance: Can be pruned severely right before new growth begins in the spring to control size or refresh an older plant, Prevent complete soil dryness
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PlantWise: Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants

Callicarpa americana (American beautyberry) is a PlantWise native alternative for:

   Viburnum dilatatum (linden arrowwood)
   Viburnum lentago (nannyberry)
   Viburnum plicatum (Japanese snowball)
   Viburnum sieboldii (Siebold's arrowwood)
   Vitex agnus-castus (lilac chastetree)

Find Seed or Plants

Order seed of this species from Native American Seed and help support the Wildflower Center.

View propagation protocol from Native Plants Network.

Mr. Smarty Plants says

Question: What flowers and plants do the caterpillars in Tennessee eat? And do you know what butterflies live in Tipton Co. Tennessee?
click here to view the full question and answer

Question: I have a large live oak (actually several) in my front yard, which basically puts the beds at the foundation of my house in full shade. I tore out the builder-boxwoods and privets, hoping to plant something that would provide some interest. I'm having an awful time getting anything to grow there. Pigeonberries just died. Barbados cherries are spindly with yellowish leaves, beautybush just has 2 or 3 long branches sticking straight up, even the turk's caps look anemic. I've tried snapdragon vine and bleeding hearts and neither took hold. There are also some spindly roses in the bed that survive and flower occasionally. The soil is very rocky and I'm not sure what to do to amend it. Am I watering too much (doubtful) or too little? Should I just build up the edges of the bed and fill it with topsoil? I really want to xeriscape, because I don't want to have to spend every weekend babying my garden. HELP!
click here to view the full question and answer

Question: I want to replace my two dozen azaleas this spring (I think they're unattractive once the flowers fall off). I like the multiseason characteristics of weigela (midnight wine, W&R), but want to go native. Can you suggest a native alternative to these compact oriental beauties?
click here to view the full question and answer

Question: What ornamental plant will do well under Live Oak trees?
click here to view the full question and answer

Question: Hello, we live west of Ft Worth. We are looking for tall plants to form a visual screen along a chain link fence we share with a neighbor. We have post oaks there and it is very shady and the ground is sandy and sloping. Our neighbor has planted eleagnus along her side but it is only a few feet tall. The fence line is about 100 feet long and we would like a variety of native plants 6 to 10 foot tall. Can you suggest anything?
click here to view the full question and answer

From the National Suppliers Directory

According to the inventory provided by Associate Suppliers, this plant is available at the following locations:

Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Native Plant Nursery - Sanibel, FL

From the National Organizations Directory

According to the species list provided by Affiliate Organizations, this plant is on display at the following locations:

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Austin, TX
Pineywoods Native Plant Center - Nacogdoches, TX
Texas Discovery Gardens - Dallas, TX
Sibley Nature Center - Midland, TX
Brackenridge Field Laboratory - Austin, TX
Patsy Glenn Refuge - Wimberley, TX
Native Plant Society of Texas - Fredericksburg, TX
Crosby Arboretum - Picayune, MS
Stengl Biological Research Station - Smithville, TX
* Available Online from Wildflower Center Store

Bibliography

Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America (2000) Foster, S. & J. A. Duke
Gardening with Native Plants of the South (1994) Wasowski and Wasowski
Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest (1991) Miller, G. O.
Native & Naturalized Woody Plants of Austin & the Hill Country (1981) Lynch, D.
* Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants (2006) Burrell, C. C.
* Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region (2002) Wasowski, S. & A. Wasowski
Texas Wildflowers: A Field Guide (1984) Loughmiller, C. & L. Loughmiller
Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife (1999) Damude, N. & K.C. Bender
* Wildflowers of Texas (2003) Ajilvsgi, Geyata.
* Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country (1989) Enquist, M.

Search More Titles in Bibliography

Recommended Species Lists

Find native plant species by state. Each list contains commercially available species suitable for gardens and planned landscapes. Once you have selected a collection, you can browse the collection or search within it using the combination search.

View Recommended Species page

Additional resources

USDA: Find Callicarpa americana in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Callicarpa americana in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Callicarpa americana

Metadata

Record Modified: 2009-10-01
Research By: TWC Staff, RLU

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