Overview
Fruits are white instead of purple and the leaves are a lighter green than the species. Otherwise it is similar to the species. Fruit may turn brown earlier than purple-fruited forms.
Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Japanese Beautyberry
Description
Genus Callicarpa
Shrubs
or trees
, erect
or rarely climbing
; hairs
stellate
, verticillately branched, dendritic
, mealy
tomentose
, or rarely simple
and hooked
. Branchlets
terete
or 4-angled. Leaves opposite or in 3s. Cymes axillary
, sessile or pedunculate
; bracts linear
. Calyx campanulate
, truncate
or minutely 4-dentate, unaltered in fruit. Corolla actinomorphic
, campanulate or tubular
, lobes
4. Stamens 4, inserted
on corolla tube
; filaments
slender, often exserted; anthers
ovate
or oblong
, dehiscing by longitudinal
slits or circular pores
. Ovary imperfectly 2-locular; ovules 2 per locule, attached to middle
or distal part of ovary. Style usually longer
than stamens; stigma usually dilated
. Fruit a small globose
drupe, endocarp bony, mesocarp
fleshy
, exocarp
thin. Seeds small, oblong; seed coat
membranous; cotyledons fleshy.
About 140 species: mainly in tropical
and subtropical
Asia, few in tropical America and Africa, and very few in temperate
Asia and North America; 48 species in China.[1]
Physical Description
ID Features: Deciduous shrub with vigorous slender shoots. Metallic purple fruits in axillary clusters. Opposite leaves with serrate margins and acuminate tips.
Habit: Deciduous.
Flowers: Small pale pink flowers in 1" to 1.5" clusters . Bloom time is July. Not showy and often largely obscured by the foliage . • Flower Color: near white, pale pink, white
Seeds: Fruit: Small white berries in rounded axillary clusters . Fruit display is at its best after the leaves have dropped. Very showy in full fruit. The quality of the fruit color is unrivaled.
Foliage: Summer foliage: Opposite, simple leaves. Leaves are elliptic with acuminate tips . Leaf margins are finely serrated . Leaves are 2" to 5" long. Leaves are 1.5" to 2" wide. Leaf color is light green. • Fall foliage: Yellow or greenish yellow with a purplish cast. Under the right sun exposure, plants can develop nearly pink or lavender. fall color.
Size/Age/Growth
Size: 4-6' tall.
Landscaping
Landscape Uses: Shrub borders . In groupings and mass plantings . Useful for very showy fruit display. Can be treated as a semihardy shrub or herbaceous perennial . • Liabilities: When not in fruit it is an ordinary shrub without multiseason appeal. Lack of cold hardiness in zone 5. Needs regular pruning to remove winter injury and control rank growth.
Biology
Growth
Culture: Full sun to light shade. Easily transplanted. Grows rapidly. Prefers a well-drained soil, although relatively adaptable. Do not overfertilize as this will stimulate unwanted vegetative growth . Rejuvenate occasionally, especially following difficult winters. Fruit is produced on new growth. Regular pruning is a fact of life with this plant in order to keep the. plant tidy.
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.
Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b. (map)
Taxonomy
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
)
- Plants
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Vascular Plants
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Dicotyledons
- Order:
Lamiales
()
- Subfamily:
Iridoideae
()
- Tribe:
Callicarpeae
()
- Genus:
Callicarpa
()
- C. Linnaeus, 1753
- Beautyberry
- Specific epithet:
japonica
- Thunb.
- Cultivar:
Leucocarpa
- Botanical name: - Callicarpa japonica 'Leucocarpa' Thunb.
- Cultivar:
Leucocarpa
- Specific epithet:
japonica
- Thunb.
- Genus:
Callicarpa
(
- Tribe:
Callicarpeae
(
- Subfamily:
Iridoideae
(
- Order:
Lamiales
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
Notes
A tentatively accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.
Similar Species
Members of the genus Callicarpa
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 21 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
C. acuminata (Beautyberry) · C. americana (American Beauty Berry) · C. americana caroliniana (American Beautyberry) · C. americana var. ampla (American Beautyberry) · C. ampla (Cap Rosa) · C. bodinieri (Bodinier Beautyberry) · C. bodinieri var. giraldii (Beautyberry) · C. bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' (Beautyberry) · C. cathayana (China Beautyberry) · C. dichotoma (Chinese Beauty-Berry) · C. dichotoma 'Albifructus' (White Beautyberry) · C. dichotoma 'Early Amethyst' (Early Amethyst Purple Beautyberry) · C. dichotoma 'Issai' (Japanese Beautyberry) · C. japonica (Japanese Beautyberry) · C. japonica var. luxurians (Japanese Beautyberry) · C. japonica 'Issai' (Issai Purple Beautyberry) · C. japonica 'Leucocarpa' (Japanese Beautyberry) · C. japonica 'Zhou Zhou Fuchsia' (Japanese Beautyberry) · C. kwangtungensis (China Beautyberry) · C. mollis (Japanese Beautyberry) · C. shikokiana (China Beautyberry)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Judd, Campbell, Kellog & Donoghue: Plant Systematics, a phylogenetic approach
- Judd, W.S., Campbell, C.S., Kellog, E.A. & Donoghue, M.J. (2002): Plant Systematics: a phylogenetic approach, Sinauer, Sunderland, Mass.
- P'ei Chien & Chen Shou-liang, eds. 1982. Verbenaceae. Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 65(1): 1-229.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5827983
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 711878
Footnotes
- "Callicarpa". in Flora of China Vol. 17 Page 4. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
