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Beautyberry (Callicarpa) is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s and small tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s in the family Verbenaceae
Verbenaceae

The verbena family or vervain vamily, Verbenaceae, is a family of mainly tropical plants. They are trees, shrubs and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell....
; between 40-150 species are accepted by different botanists. They are native to east and southeast Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
 (where the majority of the species occur), Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, southeast North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 and Central America
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
.

The temperate species are deciduous
Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
, the tropical species evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
. The leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 are simple, opposite, and 5-25 cm long. The flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are in clusters, white to pinkish.






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Encyclopedia


Beautyberry (Callicarpa) is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s and small tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s in the family Verbenaceae
Verbenaceae

The verbena family or vervain vamily, Verbenaceae, is a family of mainly tropical plants. They are trees, shrubs and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell....
; between 40-150 species are accepted by different botanists. They are native to east and southeast Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
 (where the majority of the species occur), Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, southeast North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 and Central America
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
.

The temperate species are deciduous
Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
, the tropical species evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
. The leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 are simple, opposite, and 5-25 cm long. The flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are in clusters, white to pinkish. The fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 is a berry
Berry

In everyday English, a berry is a broad term for any small edible fruit. Most berries are juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and don't have a stone or pit....
, 2-5 mm diameter and pink to red-purple with a highly distinctive metallic lustre, are very conspicuous in clusters on the bare branches after the leaves fall. The berries last well into the winter or dry season and are an important survival food for bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s and other animals, though they will not eat them until other sources are depleted. The berries are highly astringent, and considered unfit for human use. Callicarpa species are used as food plants by the larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
 species including Endoclita malabaricus
Endoclita

Endoclita is a genus of moths of the family Hepialidae. There are 60 described species found in eastern and southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent....
 and Endoclita undulifer
Endoclita

Endoclita is a genus of moths of the family Hepialidae. There are 60 described species found in eastern and southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent....
.

Species

American Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana

American Beautyberry is an open-habit, native plant shrub of the Southern United States which is often grown as an Ornamental plant in gardens and yards....
 Callicarpa americana is native to the southeastern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. It can typically reach 1-2 m in height. A jelly can be made from its ripe berries.

Bodinier's Beautyberry
Callicarpa bodinieri

Bodinier's Beautyberry is an ornamental plant. It is grown in gardens for its decorative purple light-berries. While the berries are not poisonous, they are very bitter....
 Callicarpa bodinieri, native to west-central China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 (Sichuan
Sichuan

is a Province in western China proper with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, ?? , is an abbreviation of ??? , or "Four circuit #Circuits in East Asia of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from ???? , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the existing circuit into four during the Song...
, Hubei
Hubei

is a central province of China of the People's Republic of China. Its abbreviation is ? , an ancient name associated with the eastern part of the province since the Qin Dynasty....
, Shaanxi
Shaanxi

is a north-central political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province....
) is more cold-tolerant than C. americana, and is the species most widely cultivated in north western Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. It can reach 3 m tall.

Japanese Beautyberry
Callicarpa japonica

Japanese Beautyberry is a tree with purple berry fruits. The flowers can range from pink to white. And, this species is native to Japan. They are cultivated as ornamental plants....
 Callicarpa japonica, native to Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, is also cultivated in gardens. It is called Murasakishikibu in Japanese, in honor of Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu , or Lady Murasaki as she is often known in English, was a Japanese novelist, poet, and a maid of honor of the Emperor of Japan during the Heian Period....
.

Uses

American beautyberry or Callicarpa americana has been found to be a natural insect repellent
Insect repellent

An insect repellent is a substance applied to skin, clothing, or other surfaces which discourages insects from landing or climbing on that surface....
. Four chemicals have been isolated that appear to be the active ingredients; borneol
Borneol

Borneol is a bicyclic organic compound and a terpene. The hydroxyl group in this compound is placed in an Endo-exo isomerism position. Isoborneol is its exo isomer....
, callicarpenal, intermedeol, and spathulenol. It has found to be repellant to the mosquitoes which carry yellow fever
Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....
 and malaria
Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
, as well as the tick
Tick

Tick is the common name for the small arachnids in superfamily Ixodoidea that, along with other mites, constitute the Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and occasionally reptiles and amphibians....
 which carries Lyme disease
Lyme disease

Lyme disease, or borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia....
. The discovery and use of callicarpenal has been patented by the United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive departments responsible for developing and executing Federal government of the United States policy on farming, agriculture, and food....
 Agriculture Research Service. It has also been used to produce wine.

External links

  • University Of Mississippi
    University of Mississippi

    The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a state university , co-education research university located in Oxford, Mississippi, Mississippi....
     (ScienceDaily) July 3 2006