Author: Debbie Roney Smith

American beautyberry is a lovely plant that offers two wonderful display times each year. It is also known as French mulberry, sourbush, bunchberry, or purple beauty-berry. In the late spring and early summer, there are light colored lavendar flowers in small clusters along the upright stems of the plant. In fall, there is a big showing of color in the form of shiny purple fruit clusters called drupes.

American beautyberry is very important for the local wildlife; cattle enjoy the twigs and leaves in the winter and twigs in the winter. Additionally, the fruit is important for over forty types of songbirds including the American Robin, Brown Thrasher, Purple Finch, and Eastern Towhee. The drupes/clusters are eaten by armadillo, foxes, opossum, raccoon, and squirrels. Additionally, white tailed deer consume the fruit in the fall after leaves drop. They also browse the leaves in summer when highly preferred foods are not available.

Bunchberry is also used for botanical home remedies. For instance, the roots, leaves, and branches were used by various Native American tribes for medicinal purposes to treat malarial fevers and rheumatism. The roots were used to treat dizziness, stomachaches and dysentery. Roots and berries were boiled and drunk to treat colic. The leaves can be crushed and stuffed in pockets or under hats to repel mosquitoes. Studies conducted by the Agricultural Research Service has shown two compounds – callicarpenal and intermedeol – are responsible for the repellant effect. 

False Foxglove is named for the appearance of their brilliant pink flowers which bear a resemblance to the northern favorite Foxglove. False Foxglove actually covers a collection of closely related parasitic plants that are difficult to distinguish by all but the keenest of botanists. False Foxglove is an unusual and important Florida native plant that explodes into beautiful, vibrantly colored flowers of light purple to pink from September to December.

This species plays important ecological roles in Florida’s natural areas. The tubular flowers are the preferred nectar source for the larger-sized native solitary and bumble bees present in the Panhandle, although all manner of bees and butterflies will also visit. Additionally, False Foxglove is the primary host plant for the unique Common Buckeye butterfly. Common Buckeye larvae (caterpillars) feed on False Foxglove foliage during the summer before emerging as adults.

False Foxglove is an important indicator of a healthy native ecosystem. As a parasitic plant, False Foxglove obtains nutrients and energy by photosynthesis AND by using specialized roots to tap into the roots of nearby suitable hosts (native grasses and other plants). As both False Foxglove and its parasitic host plants prefer to grow in the sunny, fire-exposed pine flatwoods and sand ridges that characterized the natural pre-settlement Florida, an area with an abundance of False Foxglove in flower is likely in good ecological shape! A perfect example of this is Torreya State Park, an area that explodes in beautiful fall foliage around September.