Tagged With: Beautyberry

Callicarpa americana (American Beautyberry)

Photograph taken on Thursday, June 29, 2017 by Henry
Callicarpa americana (American Beautyberry)

Callicarpa americana (American Beautyberry)

These tiny flowers of the American beautyberry Callicarpa americana are, you won’t be surprised to learn, followed by beautiful berries. There will be clusters (called cymes) of the slightly pale, purple berries (called cymes) around the stems at each leaf axil (see December 7, 2013). The flowers are not nearly as showy as the fruit, or maybe it would be called American beautyflower. I still think they are pretty, though. And judging by the proliferation of berries, the insects sure must like them.

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Cosmopepla lintneriana (Twice-stabbed Stink Bug)

Photograph taken on Friday, August 18, 2017 by Henry
Cosmopepla lintneriana (Twice-stabbed Stink Bug)

Cosmopepla lintneriana (Twice-stabbed Stink Bug)

I came across another new bug today (new to me, that is). This is the twice-stabbed stink bug (Cosmopepla lintneriana), so called because of the two red ‘wounds’ the apex of the scutellum. There were at least three of them on the American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) in our back garden, including the two shown here. I had a hard time photographing them because they kept crawling around to the underside of the branches and under the bunches of purple berries. My camera, with a 100mm macro lens and two off camera flashes is a little unwieldy and takes two hands to manage properly. So, I’d use one hand to scare the bugs onto the upper side of the branch and then let go to get the picture. By the time I had found them again through the viewfinder and focused on them, they were half way back to the underside of the branch.

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Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 by Henry
Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

The American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) in our back yard is covered with purple berries. The blooms are pretty insignificant but the berries are quite striking. There are some beetles that I see on it occasionally but today there were none that I could find. I also took some pictures of the rose growing outside our front door as well as some glass fish-net floats in a bowl on the stone table, also outside our front door. Technically, this is a weed, as we didn’t plant it, but I don’t mind it where it is and it’s not terribly aggressive, so I’ll leave it to grow in peace.

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Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Photograph taken on Sunday, June 09, 2019 by Henry
Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

This native shrub has self seeded in our back garden. I’m of two minds about it. The beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), also known as rench mulberry, sourbush, bunchberry, or purple beauty-berry, does have pretty fruit, from which it gets both its common and its generic name. On the other hand, it’s not really growing where I would have planted it. Every year I think about either taking it out or at least transplanting it to another part of the garden. It certainly grows strongly enough and would probably do well in another location. The flowers, shown here, are not very significant. The big clumps of purple berries that follow are quite nice, though.

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Skipper

Photograph taken on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 by Henry
Skipper

Skipper

I took a few wasp pictures again today but they were too blurry to use. One was clear enough to get a good idea what it was, but nothing to write home about. Then I went out to the middle of the back yard and took some photos of the berries on the American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). They’re starting to turn pale purple and it’s easy to see where the shrub gets its common name. This skipper landed on the berries and I was able to get close enough for a pretty good portrait before it skipped away. I’ve only occasionally gone to the trouble to identify individual skipper species. With some notable exceptions they are all pretty similar and I just never get around to it.

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Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Photograph taken on Monday, September 02, 2019 by Henry
Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

I’ve mentioned the beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) we have in our back garden so I thought it deserved a photo. Its berries are just about at the height of their beauty right now, so it seemed like the best time. As you can see, the berries are both beautiful and plentiful. Because this shrub blooms (and therefore sets berries) on new growth, it can be cut back fairly hard each autumn or early spring and it will still produce a good display. The flowers are not particularly significant, being tiny and very pale pink. The berries, as the name implies, are the reason to grow this native. It attracts birds, who eat the berries, which is also nice.

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