Fertile Mind ; Shrub's Fruits Are Real Beauties

Summary

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About this time last year, I was introduced to a perennial shrub, native to the southeast United States, that knocked my garden gloves off.

Its common name, American beautyberry, aka Callicarpa americana, tells the tale. The plant's fruits are a gorgeous lavender-fuchsia color and are produced in fat clusters that totally surround its stem. Since my first breathtaking sighting, I've come across it in a handful of other gardens, a couple of which were planted as Missouri wildflower specimen beds.

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Extract

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Fertile Mind ; Shrub's Fruits Are Real Beauties

American beautyberry's native presence in Missouri occurred in the southernmost reaches of the state, in Taney County along the White River. Julian Steyermark, in the 1953 article "The Discovery and Destructio...

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