Can you tell me the name of all those shrubs with tiny purple marble-like fruit that grow along the walkway by the Intramural Activities building at University of Washington? Are they related to pepper? They look like purple peppercorns! Are they edible?
This shrub, which goes mostly unnoticed until its dramatic fruit stands out in fall, is Callicarpa (beautyberry), most likely Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion.’ Based on the size and shape of the fruit, I can see why you might think this plant could be related to pepper (the seasoning). Taxonomists have moved beautyberry around, but for now Callicarpa is in the mint family, Lamiaceae, while pepper (Piper) is in Piperaceae, and requires a warmer climate (subtropics or hotter) than ours.
Callicarpa is not listed in any of the usual sources on seriously toxic plants, but that does not mean its fruit is safe or tasty for human consumption. According to Julia Morton, a botanist and author of Wild Plants for Survival in South Florida, “the rank odor of the plant makes nibbling of beautyberry bunches on the stem unpleasant.” This article from the Cape Coral Daily Breeze (February 6, 2015) mentions that birds, deer, and squirrels enjoy the fruit. In my own garden, it is not the first choice of birds, but I have seen them trying it from time to time. Humans find the fruit mealy and insipid, according to the article, but that doesn’t stop avid foragers from attempting to make jelly from it.
If you grow Callicarpa, you may learn to appreciate its subtle flowers in spring, and the gently turning colors of its leaves in fall. Callicarpa americana also has terpenoids in its leaves that repel insects (mosquitoes, ticks, ants, and more).