I've seen a variety of different Callicarpa species offered by plant nurseries, but not C. americana. I've been paying attention since I read the article on C. americana on EatTheWeeds a few years ago, but the species is not common here in Europe where Callicarpa is only used for ornamental purposes. Maybe some botanical gardens have it in their North American collection, but one is unlikely to find it growing in public landscaping. The article on EatTheWeeds states: "A fairly common Beautyberry that is an ornamental is the Callicarpa japonica. It is easy to identify from the American Beautyberry because its fruit are on long stems away from the main branch. American Beautyberries wrap around the main stem. More so, the C. japonica is long branched, slim, skinny-leafed and weeping, the C. americana is not." - www.eattheweeds.com/beautyberry-jelly-on-a-roll/ Some pictures of the tight clusters of C. americana: centenaryarboretum.blogspot.com/2012/01/callicarpa-americana.html
I don't know if that is Callicarpa Japonica but it isn't Callicarpa Americana. American Beautyberry grows in abundance here in the Ozark Mountains and it's fruit is in tight clusters basically attached directly to the branch with no stems to speak of on the berries. The beautyberry jam we made this year is awesome, similar to Concord Grape flavor. Also those leaves look smaller than on Callicarpa Americana.
I am pretty sure this is C. japonica, we have them in our nursery and it looks the same, the bitter one you are referring to is Callicarpa bodinieri(chinese beautyberry), i´ve never tried it but heared it tastes disgusting.
@@allthefruit I´ve never seen C. americana here either, i belive it needs USDA 7 so most of the german climate would be too harsh, the chinese one is however very common, even more then C. japonica, usually it is the variety Callicarpa bodinieri 'profusion' that you see in privat gardens.
I have watched both of your Callicarpa videos. I do not believe either of them show Callicarpa americana. The fruit on my beautyberry is clustered closer to the stem. The leaves have a pungent herbal smell, particularly when crushed, not simply the smell of green grass or green leaves. The leaves, crushed and rubbed on the skin, are an effective but short-term mosquito repellant as it is easily washed off the skin by perspiration. The fruit has no sweetness but also no bitterness and no astringency when ripe (note that the berries are purple before they are optimally ripe, perfectly ripe ones are the same bright purple color but slightly plumper and softer). The flavor is interesting and quite strong considering the size of the fruit; the best way I can describe it is herbal. I like the flavor and eat the berries fresh from my bushes, though as I have plenty of fruit on them, I leave most of them for the birds. Flavor varies from year to year and from plant to plant, as is typical from unimproved and foraged fruits. I have never had beautyberry jam but can see what the appeal might be as adding sugar might mellow out the strong herbal flavor.
I've seen a variety of different Callicarpa species offered by plant nurseries, but not C. americana. I've been paying attention since I read the article on C. americana on EatTheWeeds a few years ago, but the species is not common here in Europe where Callicarpa is only used for ornamental purposes. Maybe some botanical gardens have it in their North American collection, but one is unlikely to find it growing in public landscaping. The article on EatTheWeeds states:
"A fairly common Beautyberry that is an ornamental is the Callicarpa japonica. It is easy to identify from the American Beautyberry because its fruit are on long stems away from the main branch. American Beautyberries wrap around the main stem. More so, the C. japonica is long branched, slim, skinny-leafed and weeping, the C. americana is not." - www.eattheweeds.com/beautyberry-jelly-on-a-roll/
Some pictures of the tight clusters of C. americana:
centenaryarboretum.blogspot.com/2012/01/callicarpa-americana.html
I just checked a few plant nurseries and they have C. japonica, C. bodinieri and C. dichotoma, but none of them have C. americana.
Thank you, it seems that i misidentified it
I don't know if that is Callicarpa Japonica but it isn't Callicarpa Americana. American Beautyberry grows in abundance here in the Ozark Mountains and it's fruit is in tight clusters basically attached directly to the branch with no stems to speak of on the berries. The beautyberry jam we made this year is awesome, similar to Concord Grape flavor. Also those leaves look smaller than on Callicarpa Americana.
Thank you for the info
Thank you for your awesome videos!
Sorry for the late answer. As usual i did not get a notification of your reply
I am pretty sure this is C. japonica, we have them in our nursery and it looks the same, the bitter one you are referring to is Callicarpa bodinieri(chinese beautyberry), i´ve never tried it but heared it tastes disgusting.
Thank you. Seems like everything i see around here is japonica. Would like to taste americana, it is supposed to be much better
@@allthefruit I´ve never seen C. americana here either, i belive it needs USDA 7 so most of the german climate would be too harsh, the chinese one is however very common, even more then C. japonica, usually it is the variety Callicarpa bodinieri 'profusion' that you see in privat gardens.
@@FruitingPlanet thank you, here it would grow well
I have watched both of your Callicarpa videos. I do not believe either of them show Callicarpa americana. The fruit on my beautyberry is clustered closer to the stem. The leaves have a pungent herbal smell, particularly when crushed, not simply the smell of green grass or green leaves. The leaves, crushed and rubbed on the skin, are an effective but short-term mosquito repellant as it is easily washed off the skin by perspiration. The fruit has no sweetness but also no bitterness and no astringency when ripe (note that the berries are purple before they are optimally ripe, perfectly ripe ones are the same bright purple color but slightly plumper and softer). The flavor is interesting and quite strong considering the size of the fruit; the best way I can describe it is herbal. I like the flavor and eat the berries fresh from my bushes, though as I have plenty of fruit on them, I leave most of them for the birds. Flavor varies from year to year and from plant to plant, as is typical from unimproved and foraged fruits. I have never had beautyberry jam but can see what the appeal might be as adding sugar might mellow out the strong herbal flavor.
You are right. They both seem to be japonica