Callicarpa Americana

Scientific Name: Callicarpa americana

Common Name: American beautyberry

Symbol: CAAM2

Category: Dicot

Genus: Callicarpa

Family: Verbenaceae

Family Common Name: Verbena family

Order: Lamiales

Class: Magnoliopsida

Subkingdom: Tracheobionta

Kingdom: Plantae

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Shrub

Native Status: L48 (N)

Flower Color: Blue

Flower Conspicuous: Yes

Foliage Color: Green

Foliage Texture: Medium

Fruit Color: Purple

Edible: No

American Beauty Bush

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Scientific Name: Callicarpa americana

Common Name(s): American Beauty Bush, French Mulberry

Edible: no

Medicinal: yes

Parts Used: root, fruit, leaf

crashdive123 7 Sep, 2009	Shrub; 3-6 feet. Leaves ovate-oblong, toothed; woolly beneath. Tiny whigish blue flowers in whorl-like cymes; June - August. Rich bule-violet berries in clusters, in leaf axils; October - November.
Current Rating: 0.0000

crashdive123 7 Sep, 2009	Where found: Rich thickets. N. Maryland to Florida; north to Arkansas, Oklahoma. Occurring only in the soughern part of our range (to n. Ark.), though Asian species of this genus are grown as ornamentals as far north as Boston. Easily recognized by the ticky, aromatic, opposite leaves and whorls of magenta fruits.
Current Rating: 0.0000

crashdive123 7 Sep, 2009	Uses: American Indians used root and leaf tea in steam baths for rheumatism, fevers, and malaria. Root tea used for dysentery, stomachaches. Root and berry tea used for colic. Formerly used in the South for dropsy and as a "blood purifier" in skin deseases.
Current Rating: 0.0000

ravenscar 14 Jan, 2011	note to all, you can eat the berry's, but they are tart and dry your mouth out
Current Rating: 0.0000

Healing Wolf
14 Nov, 2011

I have always been told that the American Beauty was poisonous, it is however a wonderful mosquito repellant. Just mash the berries in your hands and rub onto exposed skin making certain not to get it into the eyes or mouth. I have tried this many times while walking in the woods and coming across a heavily infested area with mosquitoes. The down side if you want to even consider it a down side considering the consequences if you don't use it, is the seeds in the berries will be all over you, but can be easily brushed off when the berry juice drys.

Current Rating: 0.0000

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Callicarpa americana

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