Callicarpa americana

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Callicarpa americana
Call amer.jpg
Photo taken by Kevin Robertson (2015)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Order: Lamiales
Family: Verbenaceae
Genus: Callicarpa
Species: C. americana
Binomial name
Callicarpa americana
L.
Call amer dist.jpg
Natural range of Callicarpa americana from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: American beautyberry

Taxonomic notes

Description

Generally for the Callicarpa genus, they grow up to 1-2.5 m tall with twigs having stellate pubescence while being scrurfy when touched. The leaves are simple, opposite or subopposite, have short pubescent above, and ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, acute to acuminate, petiolate in shape. The flowers are in axillary cymes. The calyx is shallowly 5-toothed, grows 0.5-2 mm long. The petals are united ca. 1/2-2/3 their length. The lobes 5, are spreading, are lavender to pinkish in color, grow 3-5 mm long. The stamens are exserted. The stigma is slightly 2-lobed. The drupe is 4-seeded, are lavendar to purple in color, are rarely white in color, and are globose. The seeds are light yellow to brown in color, are ellipsoid to orbicular rounded on the back, and are flattened on the inner surface. [1]

Specifically, for Callicarpa americana, the leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate in shape, there are stellate pubescence beneath the leaves, and grow 7-15 cm wide, are crenate to serrate, and at the base are widely cuneate or rounded. The petioles grow 1.5-3.5 cm long, and are scurfy stellate like the twigs. The cymes are shorter than the subtending petioles. The peduncles grow 1-5 mm long. The drupe grows 3-5 mm long. The pyrenes grow 2.3 mm long. [1]

Distribution

Ecology

Pollination

The following Hymenoptera families and species were observed visiting flowers of Callicarpa americana at Archbold Biological Station (Deyrup 2015):

Apidae: Apis mellifera

Halictidae: Agapostemon splendens, Augochlora pura, Halictus poeyi, Lasioglossum placidensis

Megachilidae: Megachile brevis pseudobrevis

Conservation and Management

Cultivation and restoration

Photo Gallery

References and notes

Deyrup, M.A. 2015. Database of observations of Hymenoptera visitations to flowers of plants on Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 894. Print.

  1. 1.0 1.1 Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 894. Print.