a friend and i were hiking through the cracks of rock in the foothills of
the Ozark mountains this weekend. we came across a plant that neither of us had
seen before. it was (up to) 5 1/2 feet tall, along the "stems" of each were the
most brilliant color of "violet" berry i have ever seen, each berry-cluster
consited of about 20-50 berries

That's an easy one. Callicarpa americana, beautyberry. I have one of its
hardier relatives. The berries look like they came from Michael's.

Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much
that ain't so."
Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), 1818-1885