As I've started working on our Florida food forest, I've been thinking a lot about all the fruit trees and edible plants I want to add. But then there's this one.
I didn't plant it at all.
American beautyberry grows naturally around our yard here in Florida. It's one of those plants that was already here doing its thing before I ever started intentionally creating a food forest.
Once I realized what it was—and that those incredible purple fruits are actually edible—it made me look at this plant completely differently.
What Is American Beautyberry?
American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is a native Florida shrub that's pretty hard to miss once the fruit appears.
The plant produces clusters of vivid purple fruits that grow tightly around the stems. According to UF/IFAS, the shrub typically grows about 3 to 8 feet tall and 4 to 8 feet wide.
It naturally grows in places like Florida hammocks and woodland areas—which makes a lot of sense when I look at where ours decided to grow.
I Didn't Plant Our Beautyberry
That's probably my favorite part about having it.
I spend plenty of time deciding what fruit trees to buy, where to plant them and whether they'll handle our Central Florida weather. Meanwhile, this native edible plant just showed up on its own.
We have beautyberry naturally growing around the property, and now that I'm paying more attention to edible and useful plants, I have a completely different appreciation for it.
Can You Eat American Beautyberry?
Yes, American beautyberry fruit is considered edible.
That doesn't necessarily mean you'll want to stand outside eating handfuls of it straight from the shrub, though. UF/IFAS describes the fresh fruit as fairly dull in flavor, and some people find it a little drying in the mouth.
One of the more common ways people use beautyberry is by turning the fruit into jelly or preserves, where sugar can make the flavor much more enjoyable.
As with anything growing wild, I wouldn't eat a plant based only on what it looks like in a photo. Correct identification is important before eating any foraged plant.
Beautyberry Is Great for Wildlife Too
Even if I never harvest a single beautyberry for myself, the plant still has a place in the yard.
Birds and small mammals eat the fruit, and native fruiting plants like American beautyberry can provide a natural food source for wildlife.
That's another reason it fits so well with what I want our food forest to eventually become. I don't want everything growing here to be only for us. I love the idea of having plants that can feed people while also providing food and habitat for wildlife.
Does Beautyberry Grow Well in Florida?
Considering ours showed up without any help from me, I already had a pretty good clue about that answer!
American beautyberry is well adapted to Florida and can grow throughout the state. Once established, it's drought tolerant and can handle our summer heat.
It fruits best with plenty of sun, but it can also grow in partial or even fairly heavy shade. It prefers well-drained soil but can tolerate poorer sandy soils as well.
That's one of the things I find so interesting about native plants: sometimes the plants already growing happily in your yard are worth learning about before you start replacing everything with something new.
Watch the Beautyberry Growing in Our Yard
Here's the beautyberry growing naturally on our property—the food in my yard that I never even planted:
Beautyberry and Our Florida Food Forest
The more I work on this food forest, the more I'm realizing that creating it doesn't have to mean starting completely from scratch.
We're adding citrus, tropical fruit trees and all kinds of things I've never grown before, but I also want to pay attention to what's already thriving here naturally.
For example, I recently added a Hamlin orange tree to the project and have been deciding when it makes the most sense to get it into the ground. You can see that part of the food forest here: When Should You Plant an Orange Tree in Florida? My $50 Hamlin Orange Tree .
Beautyberry is almost the opposite experience. I didn't shop for it, plant it or try to get it established. It was already growing here.
Should You Keep Beautyberry Growing in Your Yard?
For me, finding out what this plant was gave me plenty of reasons to appreciate having it around.
It's native to Florida, handles our climate, produces striking purple fruit, provides food for wildlife and even has edible fruit that people sometimes use for jelly and preserves.
And mine didn't require me to plant anything at all.
As we keep building the food forest, I'm going to be paying a lot more attention to what is already growing naturally around us. There may be more useful plants hiding in plain sight.
Do you have beautyberry growing wild in your yard, or is there another edible plant that surprised you by showing up on its own?