Morus rubra - (image 1 of 7)
Taxonomy
Family: Moraceae
Habitat
Rich woods, floodplains.
Associates
Jeffersonia diphylla
Distribution
VT, MA, to MN and NE, south FL to TX.
Morphology
Deciduous tree to 20 m. Twigs and petioles with milky sap. Bark dark, scaly. Leaves alternate, thin, rounded, coarsely serrate, sometimes with 1-2 lobes, acuminate, glabrous or scabrous above, pubescent below. Monoecious, with flowers in cylindric catkins; staminate catkins long, pendulous; calyx 4-parted; stamens 4; style 2 parted. Fruit cylindrical, dark purple, edible.
Notes
Flowers May to June; Fruit late June or July.
Wetland indicator: Facultative -
Endangered in CT and MA, and threatened in MI and VT.
A taller, more erect tree than the introduced and invasive White Mulberry, M. alba. White Mulberry usually has smaller, glabrous leaves that typically have 3-5 lobes, yellow-brown bark, and very sweet, insipid fruit. Hybridization is common between these two species, and this eventually could result in the loss of pure M. rubra through much of its native range. Hybrids of the two species have been shown in transplant studies to have a higher reproductive fitness than pure M. rubra (Burgess and Husband 2006).
Morus alba fruit
Morus alba foliage
References
Burgess, K.S. and B.C. Husband. 2006. Habitat differentiation and the ecological costs of hybridization: the effects of introduced mulberry (Morus alba) on a native congener (M. rubra). Journal of Ecology, 94, 1061-1069.
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of
Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Peterson, L. A. 1977. A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America
Houghton Mifflin Company. New York, NY
USDA, NRCS. 2002.
The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
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Michael Hough © 2009 |