# Survival > Foraging & Wild Edibles >  American Beautyberry

## Batch

I take photos all the time (296 today) of plants and stuff. I always mean to post some of them and don't.

The south east has a plant called the American Beautyberry. It is everywhere here in South Florida. 

This one of many photos I took of the plant in several spots in different wooded areas.

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I had always heard that the plant was toxic. But, further reading says it is not. It can be eaten out of hand or made into a jam. 

Green Dean of eattheweeds.com did a youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igKeqZjxPYQ

Its also said to make a decent wine. 

I am no expert or even a ranked amateur. Does anyone else have experience with this plant? I can find no look alikes.

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## Winnie

It is also a good insect repellant too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callicarpa_americana

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## Batch

Yeah, I saw that as well. I have never tried it though. They say it is as good as DEET. So, I am going to try it next outing.

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## rwc1969

Interesting! I'm not sure if that grows around here.

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## crashdive123

According to what I have previously found, it does not grow in your area RWC.  http://www.wildcrafting.net/forage/plant/161/

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## Winnie

Callicarpa isn't native here,It's grown as a garden shrub.

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## your_comforting_company

I was previously told it was toxic too, so I left it at that. I'm familiar enough with it's identity that I can name the sprouts and small plants even without flowers or berries. My grandma said they used it to make a dye for their clothes, but that is the extent of my knowledge. I will definately be doing more research on this one.
thanks for bringing it to my attention!
But it does raise the question.. which one do you believe? the one that says it's toxic, or the one that says it isn't?

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## your_comforting_company

that video makes me feel like a dummy..
I just told someone a few weeks ago not to eat them LOL.

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## crashdive123

Before I had taken his (Green Dean) class, I thought they were toxic as well.

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## Swamprat1958

Here in the south it is called "French Mulberry".  It is a pretty good deer browse and birds eat the berries.  I have been told it was toxic all my life I may have to try some next year since most of the berries are gone from the plants this late in the year.

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## Winnie

Having read a bit more, the berries are astringent. I would personally not eat them raw unless I had to. But I bet they'd make a really unusual jam!

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## rwc1969

Green Deane drinks Sassafras tea and it has been proven to be carcinogenic.

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## crashdive123

I have read and heard that about Sassafrass.  I think back the the many times in the Scouts, drinking Sassafrass tea and iced tea.  I guess I need to do a little research and check sources.

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## Batch

> Before I had taken his (Green Dean) class, I thought they were toxic as well.


I am hoping to take a class or two with Green Dean. Where did you take the class with him?

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## crashdive123

I took one in Jacksonville.  He does several in the Orlando or middle part of the state - not sure how far south he does them.

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## crashdive123

Here's his class schedule for the rest of the year.  http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTh..._SCHEDULE.html

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## ravenscar

this grows everywhere out here, its very common and seems to be hard to machete to death. so if you ever finds yourself in east texas its a sure bet you will find some

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## Batch

> Here's his class schedule for the rest of the year.  http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTh..._SCHEDULE.html


I am going to sign up for his class Dec 5th in West Palm. Here is a list of thing he says we'll see.

"American Beautyberry, Malaleuca (tea tree) pines, caesar weed, wild grapes, citrus,  conyza, smilax, passion flowers, sandspurs, koontie, ipomoea, oaks, commelinas, Emilias, purslane, amaranth, figs, crowfoot grass, surinam cherry, bitter gourd, red spiderling, sea grapes, sida, cattails, yellow pond lillies, Spanish needles, mangos, sedges, wapato, pickerel weed, sabal palms. royal palms, queen palms, bamboo, traveler palms, coconuts, date palms, dollar weed, water hyssop, mahoe, varigated mahoe, seaside mahoe, fishtail palm, podocarpus, lichen, Ilex, and two of the most toxic seeds on earth and an iguana or two."

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## crashdive123

In the class I took he identified well over 50 edible plants, most of which I had walked by every day without giving a second thought to them.  I've still got to match up all of the pictures I took with the notes I kept.

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## rwc1969

Green Dean was the one that told me that about the Sassafras in one of his vids I believe. Interestingly enough my Grandpaw made it often and all his kids drank it. None died of cancer that I'm aware of and most lived to a ripe old age.

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## your_comforting_company

I have drank it, and if you harvest them at the right time of year, when the sap is down, I would think the "toxic properties" would be minimized. Carcinogens take a while to build up in the system.
There are lots of reasons to be wary of this type of information. Perhaps it was the manufacturing process that caused the saps to be carcinogenic.. as with any plant, when you isolate the constituents, you create chemicals that don't actually occur in the plant as a whole. Modern science and primitive technology are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Modern takes each piece of the puzzle and analyzes it individually. Primitive accounts for the whole plant as a single "piece" and it has been proven that some plants with toxic ingredients are not toxic at all when not isolated.
_Even mustard greens and peas have toxic chemicals when they are isolated from the whole plant_, but used as a whole, are delicious and bring no ill effects. I use this example because they are two "modern" foods I eat 5 or 6 times a week usually... That's right, *there are no warning signs at the grocery store telling you that your turnips and horseradish contain cyanide*, are there??

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## danmc

> I have read and heard that about Sassafrass.  I think back the the many times in the Scouts, drinking Sassafrass tea and iced tea.  I guess I need to do a little research and check sources.


Try "Ranking Possible Carcinogenic Hazards" by BRUCE N. AMES,* RENAE MAGAW, Lois SWIRSKY GOLD.  SCIENCE, VOL. 236, April 17, 1987, pp 271-280.  You can find that at www.sciencemag.org for a fee.

My personal take from the article, and please note I am not a medical or biological professional in any way, is that the level of carcinogens in sassafrass is quite small relative to other things I'm exposed to.  So, I drink it every once in a while (couple of times a year) and don't worry too much.

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## danmc

> That's right, *there are no warning signs at the grocery store telling you that your turnips and horseradish contain cyanide*, are there??


my local grocery store started selling rhubarb with the leaves cut off because they were worried (so says the guy in the produce dept) that people wouldn't know to eat the stalks instead of the greens.  

On the beautyberry, I'd be interested in hearing first hand experiences with the plant.  A hunting lease I used to be in on (not anymore) had a lot of it but I never tried it.

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## ravenscar

ive been eating it for a while,, sorta gritty and tart, but good otherwise. dont taste as good after being frozen though. right now its blackberry season so im not so worryed bout a  later harvest.

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## windtortoise

The ripe berries are slightly astringent, but they have a mild, apple-pear-like flavor and are not bad.  Avoid the teeny-tiny berries that don't seem mature.  The smell of a juice made from them is enticing and quite enjoyable.  They also make a nice addition to smoothies because they add some texture and a little tartness.  I also use them to make jam, which is very smooth and delicious, sort of like a berry-and-apple jam.  The wine is good, but requires a lot of berries--mild sort of apple-grape taste, but good.  The leaves can be used like grape leaves as well, or made into an infusion.  This is a tasty berry in many forms, and should not be considered poisonous.  I eat them every year from spring to fall and they are nothing but nourishing.

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## Batch

I have eaten the berries quite often since I started this thread. Like many wild foods it is not strong flavored at all. I have tried the jelly and it is as good as any other jelly. But, like other jellies it has a lot of sugar added. 

I have not tried the leaves.

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