A Beauty of a Berry in a Remarkable Habitat

I have had the opportunity this past month to spend a great deal of time studying the 25 or so acres of the Yanaguana Nature Trail at Mission San Juan and sharing what I have learned about this remarkable natural habitat with high school environmental science students. The more I learn about this remnant riparian woods, the more I am in awe of the biodiversity located here.

This is the land located between Mission San Juan and the remnant channel of the San Antonio River. Ecologically, it is located within the convergence of the Post Oak Savanna ecoregion to the northeast and east and the Tamaulipan Plains, also known as the South Texas Brush Country, to the south and southwest. There is an interesting mix of flora and fauna from both of these ecoregions.

Over the coming week or so the posts here on While on a Walk will go into more detail regarding this fascinating habitat.

The American Beautyberry is as good a beginning as any for this series. Callicarpa americana is in the Verbenaceae (Verbena) Family. It is most commonly found in riparian woodlands and other moist wooded areas of the Post Oak Savanna ecoregion and the woods of Southeast Texas and the Southeastern United States.

It is fairly easy to recognize this plant when it has ripe fruit, as the red to purple berries grow in dense clusters around the leaf axils:

The berries are highly astringent, but berry eating birds are so highly attracted to them, they will fight over territory around these shrubs when they bear ripe fruit.

This set of photographs was taken along the Yanaguana Nature Trail at Mission San Juan in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park on Monday, October 28, 2013.