Mulberry species identification

Yes.

By the way … the undersides of the leaves are a bit rough and contain a skin irritant similar to nettles - but not as strong as poison oak or poison ivy. Still, if you are pruning a whole tree I recommend either long sleeves or a tube of anti-inflammatory steroids.

My wife has decided that she doesn’t like the taste of the berries so I’m going to replace the shrub with her favorite deciduous flowering magnolia bush. There’s going to be lots of scionwood generated and some with attached rootball available to anyone who would like to pick it up, no charge. I am in a licensed quarantine zone and will not ship plant material.

So this is mulberry? I’ve seen these popping out of my yard all the time and I kept pulling them out. Hmm…

How big do they get at maturity?

IL847,

How to tell male from female in the mulberry world? Does it need both gender to get fruit or only female is needed?

Tom

There are many species, hybrids, and cultivars in the mulberry genus. This thread is about the hybrid Black Beauty. For others please see the list here: List of Mulberries (Morus) cataloged by NCGR with links

Black Beauty is seedless and self fruitful.

Not a expert,but I think it only needs female plant to produce fruits. I was told by someone that the female mulberriy leaves are heart shape and male mulberriy leaves shape like fig. Not sure how true this is though

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I believe the advice you received was for M. rubra.

Yesterday I lowered the height by half to about 4 feet. I’ll be giving it away in a month or so – perhaps to the local CRFG chapter. I’m replacing it with an ornamental Magnolia bush that has sentimental value for my wife :heart:.

Oh my gosh, Richard. It’s such a shame you can’t keep it! It is clearly completely healthy and vigorous! Is there not a special spot in the front yard for that lovely magnolia tree?? Man, that’s some major pruning for a tree that is supposed to stay “dwarf to 15 ft.” (which maybe is a relative term for a Mulberry??)

Yes, the rootstock is Morus alba. Notice the trunk diameter at the base below the graft. One positive thing about it … the root ball is likely hardy enough for a vigorous uprooting and transplant. :smiley:

That is the front yard :laughing:

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I am attempting the finishing touches on my mulberry website (definitely hope to “publish” it before November) and I am having to adlib on Morus nigra, since I have never met one in person. I am doing a short discussion on leaf shape (doesn’t hold much weight for identification) and came across an article (Morphological and agronomical characterization of native black mulberry (Morus nigra L.) in Sutculer, Turkey [2004]), which examined ten separate Morus nigra plants and noted little differences in the leaves…all being about as long as wide, in dimensions. Most Morus nigras I’ve observed in pictures usually have a cordate heart/fan shape, but I have seen elongated versions that seemed “real”. Also, rarely lobed. Would you share your opinion on this subject?

There are species of Mulberry and Fig which have the same leaf appearance and similar bark appearance to Morus nigra. To differentiate you’ll need to have photos of the fruit, both of M. nigra and of the others as counter-examples.

You might find the photos you need by searching through individual accessions for each species using the GRIN Accession search. Hint: click the “Advanced Search” tag right below the search box and then check the box “with images”.

GRIN has been a great resource, but unfortunately they only have leaf photos on three accessions of Morus nigra, and they are all cordate with leaf length equal to leaf width…I am looking for exceptions. I just want to be sure that leaf shape can’t be used as a guide when shopping for “real” Morus nigras.

:smiley:

nigras will generally bear cordate shapes, but may, in instances of rapid growth(which is not really rapid here), bear tri-lobe foliage. Could predict tri-lobe leaves occur quite often in areas more moist and humid than here.

here’s our entry about nigra heterophylly a couple of years ago

http://forum.vpaaz.org/photo/heterophylly

though leaf shape is not reliable, leaf texture reportedly is. Nigras are supposedly the only morus species which are hairy on both sides of their leaves. Incidentally, you could check for trichomes microscopically using the leaves i sent you. Much more definitive that way, instead of having people rely on the ‘touchy-feely’ over the mulb leaves[quote=“Livinginawe, post:74, topic:4928”]
cordate with leaf length equal to leaf width
[/quote]
some nigras labeled as persians, which have seen imported from elsewhere(since elsewhere is usually wetter than here)have longer leaves than they are wide. The link above was that of a noir , btw.

@Livinginawe : You could make an appointment with Jenny Smith at ARS-Davis to visit Wolfskill orchards in the late Spring and photograph all the species bark, leaf, & fruit to your heart’s content. Otherwise, in my opinion I think it is disingenuous to launch a reference page for mulberries containing tree species you have never observed intact - nor grown.

while visiting wolfskill would help, @Livinginawe is hosting an at-your-own risk website for anyone to consider, and not to refer to as gospel truth. Besides, quite likely some folks at GRIN would have the same bertrand russell stance.

moreover, he has actually brought up, if not carried out, several in-depth specifics outside of GRIN’s realm .

Livinginawe I look forward to your website and think it’s a great idea.

I agree, it is “disingenuous”, but if “observing” was the criteria for comment, then every preacher in America would be out of a job… All joking aside; I have made three purchases over the years of “Morus nigra” plants and all three turned out to be Morus albas (I don’t need more albas since I have a half dozen, plus a couple Morus rubras, Illinois Everbearing, and Silk Hope). My reasons for doing this website are two-fold…1) Is to try to clear up some of the erroneous information and, working with the vendors, try to stem the tide of bad mulberry sales, so people like myself and several others in this forum are not continually ripped off… 2) Mulberries (and Jujubes) are fruit trees which I feel should be extensively promoted in these times: They require (once established) little fertilization and irrigation; both of which are problems in most states in America.
I will “do whatever it takes” to produce a website that is as accurate as possible, and I hope you and others will examine it and inform me of errors, or even just to express your doubts and opinions.
I like your idea of visiting Wolfskill orchards…My wife and I are planning a month visit to the Seattle area in late spring. I wouldn’t have to twist her arm too hard to make a trip down to Napa Valley.

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