クマツヅラ科ムラサキシキブ属の落葉低木で、学名は Callicarpa japonica。英名は Japanese beautyberry。
The Japanese beautyberry (Callicarpa japonica) belongs to Verbenaceae (the Verbena family). It is a small deciduous tree that is native to Japan, from southern Hokkaido to Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. This tree grows in low mountains and can reach about 3 m in height. The leaves are broad-elliptic and opposite. The cymes are borne in the axils and bloom small pale purple flowers from June to August. The stamens with yellow anthers are protruded from the corolla. The fruits are round and ripen in purple from fall to winter. The Japanese name is derived from the shape of the fruit, which resembles Murasaki Shikibu (Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period).