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American Beautyberry
(Callicarpa americana)
by Ann Black and Jeff Sparks

American Beautyberry is a deciduous, perennial, flowering shrub native to Texas and the Southeastern United States. Other common names include: Spanish-mulberry, French-mulberry, Bermuda-mulberry, Sourberry, and Sow-berry. There are approximately 140 Callicarpa species worldwide primarily found in the tropics and subtropics.

The genus Callicarpa is derived from Latin and means “beautiful seeded or beautiful fruit”. Beautyberry is soft-wooded and grows from 3 to 10 feet tall. It has long, widely spreading, and sometimes unruly branches.

American Beautyberry is found on a wide variety of sites, moist to dry; and open to shady. Most frequent and abundant on moist sites under open pine or mixed pine-oak canopies. In Texas, beautyberry is found from the pineywoods in East Texas to the eastern cross-timbers region, also found in the Lampasas Cut Plain at Fort Hood and the Edwards Plateau (Diggs et al. 1999). 

Description: The leaves have petioles or leaf stems that are 3 cm long. The leaves are elliptical to oval and have sharply toothed margins. They may turn slightly yellow in the fall and can be aromatic. The plant blooms from May to July, the inconspicuous white or pink blossoms are hidden beneath the leaves in midsummer, but are followed in the fall by the fruit. The flower petals form a funnel shape with four lobes. As its common name indicates, Beautyberry produces a colorful fruit. The fruit is a 6 mm drupe or berry. The tiny pink to purple berries are borne in clusters at the leaf axils along the stems. The berries last two or three weeks after the leaves fall. White berries are uncommon, but do occur.

Ethnobotany: An extract of the root bark has been used as a diuretic, in the treatment of dysentery, and in stomachaches. A tea made from the roots and berries is used in the treatment of colic. Some native North American Indian tribes used the leaves and roots in sweat baths for the treatment of malaria, rheumatism and fevers.

Horticulture: Beautyberries grow in Zones 5-8 in almost any well-drained soil. They can tolerate light shade, but do much better in full sun. New plants can be started from seed or from softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer, from semi hardwood cuttings in mid summer, and from hardwood cuttings of dormant branches in the fall or winter. Plants can also be started by ground layering. Beautyberries may grow 6 to 10 feet tall, but the stems may die back to the ground during cold winters. Berries are produced on the current season's growth, and a full crop of fruit can be expected each year. For the greatest crops of berries, the stems should be cut to within 4 to 6 inches of the ground early each spring. However the plant should not be hedged. When Beautyberries are planted in groups, there is better cross-pollination of flowers, resulting in larger crops of berries.

Wildlife Value: American beautyberry fruit is consumed by more than 40 species of songbirds. Beautyberry is also a medium preference browse species, with white-tailed deer commonly browsing on the leaves. Beautyberry can be a major part of the summer diet when highly preference foods become scarce. In addition to songbirds, fruits are also consumed by raccoons, opossum, armadillo and numerous small rodents.