My child just ate this plant. Is it OK?

[Skeeker]

My 3 year old was just eating the little purple berries off of this plant here in Dublin. Can anyone tell me the name of this plant and if it is poisonous?

Thank you. [image:

[zxcvbob]

Not very good pictures (no offense) but it looks like American Beautyberry to me. /Callicarpa americana/ Search for it and see if the online pictures match what you have.

The stuff is a native plant where I used to live. I don't think the berries are edible, but I can't find anywhere that says they are toxic.

Bob

[David E. Ross]

to the nearest medical emergency facility.

[Balvenieman]

Your photos lack enough details for accurate identification but your bush certainly closely resembles Callicarpa americana, AKA "American Beauty Berry" or "French mulberry", which is widely distributed throughout the eastern U.S.A. and the Gulf (of Mexico) coastal states from Texas to Florida (although, different sources cite different ranges) and seems to be cultivated as a garden plant in the "British" Isles. Seeds available from reputable seedsmen. A Google search on "beauty berry" Dublin (quotes included) produced (I dunno Dublin, Where):

"beauty berry" Ireland produced: The plants pictured appear to be identical to the native beauty berry bushes growing in my yard here in peninsular Florida, U.S.A. "My" berries are the color of those shown in the referenced photo, although, the plants here have begun to lose their leaves due to drought. As Autumn progresses, the berries darken. When fully ripe, they are favorites of birds, providing forage for migratory species. Most years, thanks to the birds, I have to reduce the number of new plants on the

4-acre tract that I inhabit in order to prevent their overrunning the place. The berries have almost no flavor but the second wave of European settlers in Florida (largely English and Scots), as well as throughout the Eastern US, are known to have made jelly from beauty berries, a practice that I know first-hand to have persisted among country folk well into the 20th Century. I guess you know by now whether what your kid ate killed her/him ;-)