About this time last year, Better Homes and Gardens Magazine ran a photo of a single sprig, banded with multiple clusters of purple berries, from an American Beautyberry bush artistically placed in a tall vase. It was such a simple, but attractive, arrangement that I had planned to copy it with the arrival of overnight guests soon. I was doubly excited because so many plants which bloom beautifully in our yard - crepe myrtle, lantana, confederate rose, angel trumpet - either shed petals profusely or simply fold into themselves when I try to use them as cut flowers in the house.
The day our visitors were to arrive, I, with scissors in hand, walked to our bush to cut my sprig. Boy, was I surprised. Birds had already stripped my bush of all clusters of purple berries. Needless, to say I was disappointed. However, the incident prompted me to learn more about this plant growing wild in our area.
According to the University of Florida Extension Service, its scientific name, Callicarpa americana, is Greek for “beauty fruit.” -American style, of course. Although the birds had stripped my shrub by October of last year, the American Beautyberry is considered the “bush of last resort” because birds usually turn to it only after all other food sources has been depleted. For that reason, most American Beautyberry plants supposedly bear berries until January. Cattle browse the twigs in winter and the leaves in spring. While we don’t contend with cattle in the yard, our berries do not last until January.
American Beautyberry grows naturally in both old and new pine tree stands across the south and grows in all conditions from moist and shady to open and dry. Naturally, it spreads as far north as Maryland and as westward as Oklahoma, but evidently it has easily migrated to more northern states, by birds or by gardeners who have planted seeds.
The spherical berries (drupes) of this deciduous shrub are eaten and dispersed by more than forty species of songbirds including the robin, brown thrasher (Georgia’s state bird) and finch. Also, deer, raccoons, opossums armadillos, and numerous small rodents dine on the berries. The serrated leaves are a common food source for white tail deer. I’m glad our plants with such rich looking clusters (cymes) of berries encircling the stems serve a purpose beyond the beauty of its name.
However, this old plant also has a history. Native American tribes used the roots, leaves and branches of the American Beautyberry for medicinal purposes to treat malarial fevers and rheumatism. The roots were also used to treat dizziness, stomachaches and dysentery. Roots and berries were boiled to treat colic.
Probably, taking a lesson from the Native Americans, pioneers and farmers would crush the leaves, creating a very pungent odor and place them under the harnesses of horses and mules to repel mosquitos. They also rubbed the crushed leaves on themselves.
The USDA Agricultural Research Service says that the leaves, when crushed, release two compounds - callicarpenal and intermedeol - which are repellants considered as effective as DEET for up to three hours. Research has shown it’s effective not only against mosquitoes, but also black legged ticks and fire ants.
Research chemist Charles Cantrell says that toxicity testing is needed to evaluate the safety of applying potent beautyberry compounds to human skin. “Plants containing these compounds have long been used as folk remedies with no ill effects that we know of, so I would not anticipate any harmful effects when plants are used in the traditional way.”
One retired forest ranger recalls, “Years ago when I worked for the national forest service, the old timers taught me to use what they called French Mulberry limbs (another name for American Beautyberry). It is a low growing plant, and they just broke off a branch and then you beat it over your pants and shirt real good. It works! I have often wondered how Indians and the pioneers kept ticks, redbugs, etc. off of them way back.”
I also discovered several Internet sites which praised the jelly made from the American Beautyberry berries. Although many sites state that the raw berry has little or an unpleasant taste, some folks claim that they make their favorite jelly from the fruit. Yet other sites still question whether the berry is poisonous for human consumption.
Regardless, I’m not inclined to experiment with jelly making from a plant which draws such differing points of view. Pioneers probably did make jelly from the berry, but we have more options today. I’ll just leave these pretty berries for the birds and wildlife.
I think E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web would agree. He says, “I am a pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially."
2012
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