Japanese name: コムラサキ（小紫） Scientific name:Callicarpa dichotoma
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 1.5–2 m tall, often grown as a garden tree.
It grows at the edges of wetlands and in grasslands from lowlands to hills.
The trunk is slender and extends slightly upward at an angle, and the branches divide finely, with their tips drooping.
Young branches and inflorescences have stellate hairs.
The leaves are opposite, obovate-elliptic, 3–7 cm long and 1.5–3 cm wide, with serrations above the lower third.
The leaves have petioles.
The leaves turn yellow in autumn.
It is characterized by inflorescences that emerge about 1 cm above the leaf axils, with pale reddish-purple flowers borne in cymes.
The flowers are about 3 mm across, the corolla is 4-lobed, and 4 stamens protrude long.
The fruit is spherical, 3 mm across, and ripens to a beautiful purple.
[Uses]
It is grown as a garden tree and as a cut-flower material.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by cuttings.
It prefers sunny, moisture-rich soil.
It tolerates partial shade, but with less sun, flowering and fruiting become poor.
It is highly tolerant of cold and heat.
Scale insects may appear.
[Notes]
Most of the plants grown as Murasaki-shikibu are in fact Komurasaki.
