For six months the southeastern native shrub remains inconspicuous in the garden. In late winter its deciduous branches are often cut to 6-12 inches from the ground. In spring the shrub grows prodigiously acquiring oval pointed serrated fuzzy leaves positioned alternately on arching cane-like stems. Clusters of small lavender-pink four-petaled flowers erupt from leaf nodes throughout spring and summer attracting butterflies.
Then, all of a sudden in fall when the fruit appears, gardeners, passersby and wildlife pay attention! Bright magenta berries having a metallic luster cluster tightly around the stems like beaded bracelets. A white-berried variety ‘Lactea’ produces pearly clusters but they are not nearly as showy as the magenta gems.
Common Names
The American beautyberry is but one of this charmer’s common names: French mulberry, Spanish mulberry, beautyberry, dwarf mulberry, sow berry and sour berry. Common names are often deceiving. The shrub is not related to mulberries but rather to verbena. The family name is Verbenaceae.
Native Habitat
American beautyberry is found throughout southern forests in the United States where pine, oak, and hickory are the predominant canopy trees. Other common overstory companions are sweet gum, black gum, flowering dogwood, and sweetbay. In the wild beautyberries are often found growing with other native shrubs like sweet pepperbush, fedderbush, southern bayberry, and hurrahbush.
Uses
Wildlife and woodland gardeners plant masses of beautyberry. The plants attract game birds like the bobwhite quail that come for food and cover. Over forty species of songbirds including the American robin, northern cardinal, mockingbird, purple finch, and eastern towhee consume the berries. Small mammals like squirrels, opossum, raccoon, gray fox and some rodents devour the berries too. Deer browse on the leaves.
Home gardeners use the plant en masse, in mixed borders, and as specimen shrubs. Beaded branches make beautiful dry arrangements indoors and out.
Recent research at the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi may have discovered the scientific basis to the folk remedy of rubbing crushed leaves of the beautyberry on clothing and skin to repel mosquitoes and other biting insects. Scientists have isolated three compounds in the plant which do repel mosquitoes. Much more research will have to be done before the compounds are deemed safe to market to the public.
Cultivation
The plant is easy to grow in full-sun or semi-shade in USDA hardiness zones 6-10. Beautyberry prefers well-drained soil. Soil pH may range from 4.8 to 7. Mature plants reach a height and spread of 6-8 feet. The plant has no major diseases and is not plagued by pests. It tolerates both heat and drought.
The shrub can be successfully propagated by seed or softwood cuttings. Birds distribute seeds throughout the woods and gardens and the shrub self-seeds as well.
Native Shrub Nurseries
Autumn is the best time to add the beautyberry to its native range. Several southeastern mail-order nurseries feature beautyberries: TyTy Nursery in Georgia, Woodlanders in South Carolina, and Niche Gardens in North Carolina
Planting beautyberry this fall will assure you receive bracelets of amethyst amulets in the garden next autumn.
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