''Callicarpa japonica'', commonly known as East Asian beautyberry or Japanese beautyberry, is a plant in the mint family. It is a deciduous shrub, most notable for producing purple

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

s (its "berries") in the fall. The flowers can range from pink through white. This species is native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Korea, Ryukyu Islands, and Taiwan.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> It considered to be a common species in Japan. It is cultivated as an ornamental bush, and it is very popular in gardens and parks. The fruits are not edible for humans, but are food of birds and deer. The leaves can be used to make herbal tea.

Gallery

File:Callicarpa japonica kz1.jpg, Flowers File:Callicarpa japonica Japan.jpg, Fruits

References

External links

*
Japanese Beautyberry info
' japonica Flora of China Flora of Eastern Asia Plants described in 1784 {{Lamiaceae-stub