purple berry clusters on Callicarpa americana (beautyberry)

Audubon Native Plant Sale is coming up! Sales start on September 1st and go to September 18th.

Native shrubs provide nutritious nuts, fruits, and habitat shelter for songbirds.  American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, not only has berries in abundance, they are an eye popping, almost fluorescent mauve color!   This member of the mint family is a shrub, the resins from the leaves and green stems can be used to ward off mosquitoes, and the shrub is generally avoided by deer (who usually don't eat plants in the mint family).

 

 

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