Callicarpa pedunculata (Callicarpa pedunculata)
Description
Gardeners in warm temperate to subtropical areas can enjoy the deep lavender to pale purple berries in winter on the Formosa beautyberry. A deciduous shrub with an upright, rounded habit, multiple stem trunks are open with arching branches. This shrub is native to the mid-elevations of Japan's Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, southeastern China and northernmost Philippines. Formosa beautyberry's green leaves are pointed ovals, sometimes oval lances. In mid to late summer, puffy clusters of small pink to faintly lavender flowers occur at leaf bases all along the length of the branches. Bees and butterflies swarm and pollinate the blossoms. By early to late fall, thousands of small, round fruits adorn the pale sandy brown branches. The fruits display more of a purple hue compared to the rosy violet berries seen on other common ornamental beautyberry shrubs. As the leaves turn slightly yellow and drop away in the cooling days of fall, the Formosan beautyberry's fruits become a focal showcase. Grow this beautyberry in full sun to partial sun in a non-alkaline soil with good drainage. Soils that are evenly moist and enriched with organic matter create the healthiest plants. Use Formosa beautyberry in a mixed shrub border or as an informal screen. Prune back the branches in late winter to rejuvenate the plant, limit its yearly size, and to promote additional branching with a more abundant fruit display.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Lamiales
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Family: Lamiaceae
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Genus: Callicarpa
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