Left: American beautyberry photographed at PWC in mid July. Pale flowers are still present and the berries are starting to grow.
Right: American beautyberry photographed at PWC in mid August. Flowers are gone and the berries are starting to turn purple.
Photos by Camryn Jefferson.
Join our Conservation Assistant, Camryn Jefferson, as she shares her installment in our Plant Magic series. In this installment, Camryn brings you a vibrant late summer shrub!
As late summer approaches, one shrub you’ll start to notice more is the American beautyberry, sometimes known as French mulberry, Callicarpa americana. In Greek, Callicarpa translates to "beauty" (callos) and "fruit" (carpos). This native perennial is hard to miss, standing five to eight feet tall with vibrant purple fruits from late summer to early fall. In the spring, beautyberry comes to life with green leaves appearing on large, drooping branches. In early summer, clusters of light purple flowers bloom, and then in August, the vibrant purple fruits begin to appear, which are now in full display!
Beautyberry is a wonderful native plant, as it has a high moisture content and provides food for over 40 species of songbirds, including thrashers, cardinals, finches, and towhee. The fruits are also eaten by mammals such as foxes, opossums, racoons, and squirrels.
While researching more about our native shrub, I learned that in the early 20th century, crushed beautyberry leaves were used by farmers to repel mosquitoes and biting bugs from themselves and their horses. The Agricultural Research Service has found that callicarpenal and intermedeol are the compounds in the leaves that act as repellent against mosquitoes, fire ants, and ticks. Inspired by this, I’ll be making my own homemade insect repellent this summer!
Adding a native shrub like beautyberry to your garden enhances biodiversity by attracting and supporting birds, pollinators, and mammals. Here’s a tip for maintenance: American beautyberry blooms on new wood in the spring, so be sure to prune the shrub in late winter. While this native bush does not necessarily require pruning, it does respond very well to it.
If you're interested in welcoming native plants like these into your own garden, consider supporting both your local ecosystem and Piedmont Wildlife Center by buying plants from Garden for Wildlife by National Wildlife Federation! 15% of each purchase you make through our referral link will be donated directly to Piedmont Wildlife Center to help us connect more people with nature.
