Beautyberry is as Effective as DEET in Repelling Mosquitoes

Beautyberry is a favorite amongst gardeners for its fuchsia fruit, but this native plant to the Southeast US is also a powerful insect repellent. According to Mother Earth News:

In 2006, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Products Utilization Research Unit in Oxford, Miss., found that extracts from beautyberry leaves could match DEET for repelling mosquitoes. The next year, experiments showed that the active ingredients from the leaves (callicarpenal and intermedeol) provided 100-percent repellency of black-legged ticks for three hours. In 2008, the four-person research team, headed by chemist Charles Cantrell in Mississippi and entomologist Jerome Klun in Maryland, published research that added fire ants to the list of pests repelled by essential oil distilled from beautyberry leaves.

I have not been able to find any beautyberry insect repellent, so instead I will have to find a plant for my garden.

Read More in: Health | Yard and Garden

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Posted by Jennifer Lance at June 18, 2009 10:19 AM