Mulberry Trees

Three species of mulberry are found throughout the United States. Red mulberry, Morus rubra, is native to North America. The white, M.alba, and black, M.nigra, mulberries are native to Asia. While mulberries need full sun and adequate space to mature to a height of 30 feet, the deciduous tree with round domed crown is an excellent shade tree for yards and parks. Newer smaller cultivars of weeping mulberries like ‘Chaparral’ don’t produce fruit but make attractive ornamentals or a child’s reading tree.

Mulberries thrive in any well drained soil and tolerate drought once established.

Identification

The dark glossy green leaves of the mulberry are oval with toothed edges. Many leaves are lobed like a mitten resembling fig and sassafras leaves. In fall leaves turn yellow.

Recognized as the last tree to bud in spring, gardeners use it as a sign that danger of frost is past. The plant’s genus name, Morus, means “delay” in Latin. Small green cup-shaped green flowers appear in March and are wind pollinated. Fruits are similar in shape and size to blackberries.

Mulberries are propagated by seed, grafting, and hardwood, softwood and root cuttings.

Uses of Mulberries

In 1621 the white mulberry was introduced to Virginia for the new silkworm industry expected to burgeon in the south. Colonists were required to care for the trees whose leaves were the diet of the silkworm. For two centuries the silkworm industry flourished in the United States, but by 1839 cheaper labor in foreign countries, severe cold in winter, and disease brought the industry to a close.

Wildlife is attracted to the tree. If they miss getting fruit on the tree, the ripe berries drop readily covering the ground where butterflies, fireflies, gray squirrels, wild turkeys, and songbirds congregate at a messy mulberry pub room floor.

The Cornell University Lab of Ornithology ranks the mulberry as one of seven important plant groups for bird habitat. They provide food during the nesting season along with shelter and nesting sites. Over 60 species of birds feed on mulberries including robins, bluebirds, cardinals, grey catbirds, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, orioles, tanagers, and vireos.

Children love mulberries almost as much as do birds. It’s no secret where they have been when they enter the house with fruit-stained fingers, feet, clothes, and tongue. Mulberries make a perfect after school snack. A cup of raw mulberries contains 60 calories and is high in dietary fiber, riboflavin, iron, magnesium, potassium, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and very high in iron.

The easiest way for humans to harverst large quantities for freezing or baking is to spread a plastic tarp under the tree and shake the branches. Ripe berries fall like rain.

Berries vary in flavor from sweet to tart depending on the variety. They are delicious in tarts, muffins, breads, pies, and crisps.

In Medieval England mulberry puree was added to spiced meat or eaten as pudding. In Tibet dried mulberries were ground into flour and mixed with dried almonds for a staple food in winter. Stories from England report that ladies would take afternoon tea, scones, and cream under the mulberry tree letting the fruit drop down into the cream.

Mulberry leaf tea originated in the Orient and is used as a medicinal herbal tea.

In the United States fruit farmers often planted mulberry trees as decoys keeping birds away from the more treasured and less abundant berries. The common practice of planting mulberry trees on farms near barns and homesteads served both domestic animals and the farm family.

Mulberry trees bear an abundance of fruit and pleasure to humankind and wildlife over their lifetime. Red mulberries live up to 75 years and black mulberries have been known to produce fruit for 300 years.