This is the shrub Beautyberry, aka Callicarpa Americana. There are a large number of these shrubs on the property. I do know that birds eat the seeds, but as I've read, only after other food sources have been exhausted. Since I am interested in medicinal herbs, I kept reading about potential uses for this shrub. Imagine my surprise to read the following:
"UPDATE: One of my students, Fred, does a lot of foraging and has lived his life in mosquito-ladened Florida. He reports: [Beautyberry's] “jelly is awesome but I really love the beautyberry for its insect repellent properties. After learning about this from a Green Deane class and being an avid forager myself I decided to use the beautyberry as a bug repellent so it wouldn’t slow down my summer foraging (Florida summer mosquitoes can be horrible). I pretty much chopped up a plant(leaves and stems) and boiled it in a pot and let it cool and strained the brown liquid into my blender, about 1 1/2 cups. In a separate pot I warmed some organic neem oil (1 cup) with 1 ounce of beeswax until melted. Then you turn the blender on and pour in the oil mixture very slowly and it becomes a cream. I have to say hands down the best insect repellent ever! Because its a creme on july/august days one application is all you need for the entire day even when your sweating.”"
Yes! I have no desire to make a jelly or wine from this shrub, but I really like the idea of making an insect repellent. Texas mosquitos will chase you down!
