Callicarpa [genus]
Synonyms: Geunsia [genus] Blume
C. acuminata
C. americana
C. bodinieri
C. cana
C. erioclona
C. formosana
C. lanata
C. longifolia
C. maingayi
C. pentandra Synonyms: Geunsia farinosa Blume
C. reevesii
C. tomentosa
Lamiaceae Callicarpa
Callicarpa [genus] L. LAMIACEAE
Synonyms: Geunsia [genus] Blume
Common names: Beautyberry (Hortus)
Asia, Australia, N & Cent. Am., tropics & subtrop.; 135 spp. Polygamous, deciduous or evergreen shrubs & trees, often with stellate or scurfy pubescence. Lvs. opp., simple, entire or toothed, often acuminate. Fls. pink, bluish, red, purple or whitish, in axillary cymes. Calyx 4-toothed, rarely 4-parted or 5 toothed, corolla 4-lobed, rarely 5-lobed, stamens 4 or rarely 5, ovary 4-celled, 4-ovuled. Fruit drupaceous. Grown for both the ornamental fls. and clusters of colored fruits. In Verbenaceae (Hortus Third 1976:201) Cymes small, many-fld., fls. small, corolla infundibular or salverform, stamens exserted. Fruit a small bead-like drupe. In Verbenaceae (Griffiths 1994:187) Dioecious spp. on Bonin Is.; females have non-germinating pollen, perhaps pollen is a reward for pollinators (Mabberley 1997:115) Plants are sub-aromatic, often bitter in taste. Throughout the East used medicinally, some internally, others in poulticing. Several spp. of Am. are active diuretics & purgatives. Wood of little use. Malayan spp. mostly have similar medicinal uses. Names such as ‘tampang’ indicates the plants are used to make plasters; such names occur as far E as the Philippines. 3 spp. which contain a saponin are used as fish-poisons in the Philippines. Interesting that twigs of two of them, dried until the lvs. have fallen, are used as bait for prawns. In Verbenaceae (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 407) Geunsia: shrubs (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 1085) One sp. from the Philippines is a stunning tree with fragrant lavender fls. followed by brilliant scarlet berries in great masses like elderberries [Sambucus, Caprifoliaceae]. It is only two and a half years since the seeds arrived here, and this summer a tree 20 ft. high covered with berries and alive with birds, just as it was beside a road in Mindanao (Fairchild 1943)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa acuminata
Callicarpa americana L. LAMIACEAE
Common names: French Mulberry, Beautyberry (Hortus)
VA to TX, W Indies. Shrub to 6 ft. Lvs. ovate to 6″ long, toothed, white or rusty-tomentose beneath. Fls. bluish. Fruit violet. Bloom late spring to early summer (Hortus Third 1976:201) Cymes to 3.5 cm, many-fld., fls. blue, pink, red, white (Griffiths 1994:187) Cult. ornamental shrubs (Mabberley 1997:115) Shrub with slender branches. Fls. small, 4-lobed, lavender, in axillary clusters. Fruit light purple, round, 0.1″ with white moist mealy pulp, 3-4 minute seeds; in showy compact axillary clusters around the stems in fall. Fruit edible raw but insipid and belatedly astringent: causes puckering of the mouth a few minutes after eating a little. Dr. Morton suggests picking and eating one at a time, as the rank odor of the plant makes nibbling of bunches on the stem unpleasant (Morton 1977) Valid species (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa americana
Callicarpa americana L. LAMIACEAE
Common names: French Mulberry, Beautyberry (Hortus)
VA to TX, W Indies. Shrub to 6 ft. Lvs. ovate to 6″ long, toothed, white or rusty-tomentose beneath. Fls. bluish. Fruit violet. Bloom late spring to early summer (Hortus Third 1976:201) Cymes to 3.5 cm, many-fld., fls. blue, pink, red, white (Griffiths 1994:187) Cult. ornamental shrubs (Mabberley 1997:115) Shrub with slender branches. Fls. small, 4-lobed, lavender, in axillary clusters. Fruit light purple, round, 0.1″ with white moist mealy pulp, 3-4 minute seeds; in showy compact axillary clusters around the stems in fall. Fruit edible raw but insipid and belatedly astringent: causes puckering of the mouth a few minutes after eating a little. Dr. Morton suggests picking and eating one at a time, as the rank odor of the plant makes nibbling of bunches on the stem unpleasant (Morton 1977) Valid species (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa bodinieri
Callicarpa bodinieri A. Leveille LAMIACEAE
Cent. & W China. Shrub to 10 ft. Lvs. elliptic to 5” long, toothed, pubescent beneath. Cymes dense to 1.5” across, fls. lilac. Fruit violet. Summer (Hortus Third 1976:201) Lvs. gold-purple in fall (Griffiths 1994:187) An ornamental shrub (Mabberley 1997:115) Valid species (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa cana
Callicarpa cana L. LAMIACEAE
Range not given. Tender lvs. boiled, the decoction drunk for abdominal troubles. Java, a decoction used to bring on the menses. Lvs. used to poultice wounds & boils. Shoots are recorded as used in arrow-poisons. In Philippines, used to stupefy fish; yet, after drying, a bait for prawns (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 407) Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa erioclona
Callicarpa erioclona . LAMIACEAE
Range not given. In Philippines A. L. Zwickey 1938: Berries edible. Leaves mixed with coconut oil, applied to wounds (von Reis and Lipp 1982:250). Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa formosana
Callicarpa formosana Rolfe LAMIACEAE
Range not given. In Philippines used as insecticide (Secoy and Smith 1983:47). Valid species (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa lanata
Callicarpa lanata L. LAMIACEAE
E Indies. Bark has a peculiar subaromatic and slightly bitter taste, chewed by Cinghalese [Sri Lanka] when they cannot obtain betel lvs. (Sturtevant 1972 [1919]:126) Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa longifolia
Callicarpa longifolia Lam. LAMIACEAE
Himalayas to Japan, trop. Australia. Shrub to 15 ft. Lvs. oblong-lanceolate to 8″ long, long-acuminate, toothed toward apex, pubescent beneath. Fls. rose or purple. Fruit white or dark pink (Hortus Third 1976:201) Malaysia to Australia. One of the chief plants used for poulticing by the Malays, also used internally. Java through Moluccas, a leaf decoction drunk for fever. For syphilis use a decoction of root. Rumpf says root decoction is useful for diarrhea. Malaya, the best medicine for sprue (e) is a root infusion as a draught [drink], a gargle prepared from the lvs., and a mouthwash from a bark infusion. Leaf decoction of this or another sp. used to bathe the body for distension of the stomach. Malays use the lvs. as a poultice for fever, also applied to swellings. A lotion containing the root juice for nasal caries [? syphilis]. Lvs. said to stupefy fish. Wood burns steadily & thoroughly; will not make charcoal (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 407) In the Bay of Bengal, Nicobarese boil this & other herbs in coconut oil, apply on wounds for a week, then bathe in the sea (Dagar 1989:218) Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa maingayi
Callicarpa maingayi King & Gamble LAMIACEAE
Malaya only. Tree. Alvins says the wood can be used to make fiddles. Bark on young branches a rust red. Bark used as a subst. for betel. 2 kinds, one with red bark, one with white (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 408) Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa pentandra
Callicarpa pentandra Roxb. LAMIACEAE
Synonyms: Geunsia farinosa Blume
Geunsia f.: Malaysia, throughout. Small tree. Much resembles spp. of Callicarpa, but rarely recorded as medicinal. Used for vertigo. Sumatra, ground bark possibly used for swellings, but not confirmed. Wood white, light, little use. Possibly for rafters (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 1085) Valid species & synonym (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa reevesii
Callicarpa reevesii Wall. LAMIACEAE
S China. This & several others cult. for ornament in Singapore (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 407) Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
LAMIACEAE Callicarpa tomentosa
Callicarpa tomentosa Murr. LAMIACEAE
India to Sumatra, abundant in Malaya. Tree. Wood white, brownish or reddish, scarcely used except as fuel. In India made into charcoal. Plant pounded, used to poultice sores. Juice internally for stomach-ache (Burkill 1966:Vol. 1 page 408) Valid species (GRIN 2007)
Bibliography
Burkill, I. 1966. A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula., 2nd ed. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-Operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dagar, H. S. 1989. Plant Folk Medicines among Nicobarese Tribals of Car Nicobar Island, India. Economic Botany 43(2):215-224.
Fairchild, D. 1943. Garden Islands of the Great East: Collecting Seeds from the Philippines and Netherlands India in the Junk ‘Chêng Ho.’. Scribners, New York NY.
Griffiths, M. 1994. Index of Garden Plants. Royal Horticultural Society, London U.K.
GRIN. 2007. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program, Germplasm Resources Information Network. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/paper.pl (7 May 2007).
Hortus Third. 1976. Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York NY.
Mabberley, D. 1997. The Plant-Book, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Gt. Britain.
Morton, J. F. 1977. Wild Plants for Survival in South Florida., 4th ed. Fairchild Tropical Garden, Miami FL.
Morton, J. F. 1981. Atlas of Medicinal Plants of Middle America, Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield IL.
Roys, R. L. 1931. The Ethnobotany of the Maya. The Tulane University of Louisiana, New Orleans LA.
Secoy, D. M. and A. E. Smith. 1983. Use of Plants in Control of Agricultural and Domestic Pests. Economic Botany 37(1):28-57.
Standley, P. C. 1924. Trees and Shrubs of Mexico, Part IV. Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium, Vol. 23. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Sturtevant, E. L. 1972 [1919]. Sturtevant’s Edible Plants of the World. Dover, New York NY.
von Reis, S. and F. J. Lipp, Jr. 1982. New Plant Sources for Drugs and Foods from the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA.