September 12: Beautyberry

[neverspent]

I never really noticed this plant, Callicarpa americana, which I first learned as French mulberry, until I visited a swamp in Louisiana. It doesn't have particularly interesting leaves or flowers, but once the berries come on it's unmistakable. Round clusters of pink-purple berries form along the stalk right where the opposite leaves sprout, or even right along the whole stem like a growth that looks like it's overtaking the leaves completely. And so you get a shrubby stand full of these balls of color you don't see anywhere else in the local natural environment, at least not in the fall.

I do see them in my home area now—there are a lot in the landscaping at the zoo, but I also saw a few small ones at the edge of the woods near the farm last weekend. These are apparently native, though there are a lot more species of beautyberry that are native to Asia.

The leaves contain a chemical called callicarpenal (named after the plant) that has been found to repel mosquitoes -- but the old folks have known that for ages.


American beautyberry


American beautyberry, pink variety