This common southeastern shrub (with significant insect-repellant properties) is virtually unknown as a wild plant in Ky. but sometimes planted as an ornamental. It is frequent across Tenn. beyond 30-50 miles south of the state line (Ch). M. Brock (2020) recently discovered one apparently native plant (with Ulmus serotina) along bluffs of the Cumberland Rv. (now Lake Barkley) in LYON (APSC). The transfer of Callicarpa from Verbenaceae to Lamiaceae is based on recent molecular data, but its position within Lamiaceae remains uncertain (Kadereit 2004; W).