Beautyberry: Identifying Characteristics
Habitat:
Beautyberry grows in a wide variety of conditions including moist woodland areas. It can also be found along forest margins and fencerows.
Size/Form:
Beautyberry is a rounded, bushy, multi-stem shrub that measures 6' to 8' tall. It has many spreading, oppositely arranged branches. New stems are light green and hairy but they gradually turn brown with age.
Leaves:
The leaves are simple, opposite, and deciduous. They are usually 3" to 7" long and 1" to 3½" wide and ovate in outline. Both leaf surfaces are covered with short hairs and the leaf margins are serrate.
Flowers:
Clusters of small, pink flowers appear in the spring in the leaf axils where the petioles meet the stem.
Fruit:
The fruit is a fleshy, spherical drupe about 1/8" wide and is purple to violet, or rarely white. The small fruit occurs in dense clusters that surround the stem.