Tag Archives: Beautyberry

Making beautyberry jelly 2025-10-11

Smells good while doing this.

Pouring beautyberry jelly into jars

Very tasty later as jelly.

American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana.

This is the same plant whose leaves repel mosquitos, yellowflies, and other insects.

-jsq

Beautyberries almost ripe 2025-09-14

You can eat beautyberries now, but they will be riper in a few weeks.

Beautyberries, Callicarpa americana

They’re no longer mealy, and they have some flavor. They’re ripe enough to be made into jelly.

But in a few weeks they’ll be in full flavor. Even better then for eating or wine-making.

Callicarpa americana is native to the U.S. southeast, from Maryland to east Texas, plus Mexico and parts of the Carribean.

No, it’s not the same as pokeweed, which Continue reading →

Beautyberry 2025-06-15

Beautyberry fruits are setting: the flower petals are falling off and revealing the berries.

Not only are the flowers and berries pleasing violet colors, the leaves repel insects and ticks, and you can make jelly and wine from beautyberries.

Beautyberry fruit setting, 2025:06:15 10:36:03

Once the berries get some color, you’ll see why it’s called beautyberry. They’re a pleasing violet color. The flowers are an even lighter violet. Also, the whole plant smells good. Continue reading →

Seepage slope and bog plants 2025-06-15

Twenty one species in a thousand feet down the Not-a-Driveway from piney woods through seepage slope to beaver pond.

Plus Canis familiaris and garden variety human. While we did not see any beaver, Castor canadensis, there was quite a bit of evidence of them.

Species identifications are by Seek by iNaturalist, which is usually pretty reliable. I do doubt a few of them.

For example, what seek identifies as Pineland hibiscus, Hibiscus aculeatus, sure looks to me like halberd-leaf rosemallow, Hibiscus laevis.

Far more species than these live in our subtropical paradise. These are just the plants (and fungi) I happened to focus on today.

BB

Ten-angled pipewort or bog button, Eriocaulon decangulare, 2025:06:15 09:52:26

Continue reading →

Maypop, ground cherry, blueberry, fig, beautyberry 2022-05-29

Spring is in bloom or fruit.

Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)

Continue reading →

Yellow Dog, Rosemallow, Beautyberry, Treat’s Rain Lily 2021-06-12

Update 2024-06-10: Yellow Dog’s rosemallow, three years later 2024-06-09

On our daily walk to the field, Yellow Dog encountered the first Swamp Rosemallow of the year, and perhaps the last Treat’s Rain Lily, while the Beautyberry remains in bloom.

Halberd-leaf rosemallow, Yellow Dog

Continue reading →

Dogs in their beautyberry bath 2020-10-22

Cleanly, those porch dogs are. After a walk, Honeybun stuck her head under the bathwater and paddled furiously. Nervous Nellie seemed more inclined to get a drink.

Yes, that’s beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, around the dog beauty bath.

Honeybun and Nervous Nellie in the beautyberry bathtub