there’s some euphony to it that tickles my fancy
I think it’s just more natural to call a cultivar using a possessive form, like “Italian Prune” and not “Italy Prune”, or “Persian Mulberry” and not “Persia Mulberry”.
Granted, I’ve never had occasion to sample the fruits of the named white-fruited varieties, like Tehama, but every other white-fruited selection (all random M.alba seedlings in fencerows, public parks,etc.) I’ve ever sampled were pretty disappointing - at best, kind of sweet, with no tartness, and really no flavor other than sort of ‘grassy’.
I would say the same (poor taste) for random seedlings of many other fruits.
Although the “Pakistan” was sourced from an old grove in Pakistan, it is not representative of Morus species or cultivars found there. This issue is very different from “Italian Prune” of which there are several cultivars, and “Persian Mulberry” which represents a species.
If we started calling cultivars in possessive form, then we’d use names like
Katy’s Apricot
Amphissa’s Olive
Perhaps the Mulberry experts could add a new section on to @speedster1 's poll post with Mulberry varieties?
2 Likes
You all come up with a running list and I’ll add it to the poll. I don’t know much about mulberries.
1 Like
How about you start with Pakistani 
1 Like
Here are lists of Mulberry species and cultivars known to NCGR. You’ll need to click on each link for details:
Now that I’m looking directly at the NCGR listing, I see that Mulberry ‘Pakistan’ is cataloged as DMOR 15.
Bleeding dirt-where do you live? That’s important. The red varieties can deal with the humidity and summer rain of SE and E coast. I agree with Lucky that many albas aren’t worth growing. I can tolerate eating them but I don’t enjoy it. The nigras usually can’t handle the severe cold of NE nor the humidity of SE and E coast. THey are recommended for the West Coast. They are my favorite flavor of mulberry.
John s
PDX OR
Could the poor taste you experience be due to climate? I enjoy the Hunza Seedless grown in my climate.
1 Like
John, I’m in San Jose, CA. I need a shade tree with non-staining fruits. That leaves only Albas…
Lucky and I live in dramatically different climates, yet, as many across the country do, share the same flavor experience. It could more likely be individual flavor preference, I think.
John PDX OR
I can attest that John’s morus nigra has the best tasting aggregate fruits I can remember eating. Its the only nigra I’ve tried.
1 Like
What cultivar is it? How big does it get?
1 Like
It’s from Burnt Ridge. It’s called Noir de Spain. I don’t think they sell it any more. I have heard various reports on how different various nigras are from each other. Some say they’re all the same. Some say they’re different. I don’t know. I have had an Illinois Everbearing that I thought was quite good here in my climate.
John S
PDX OR
2 Likes
Performance is quite variable from place to place.
Illinois Everbearing is great here; I regard it as the ‘gold standard’ of mulberries that I can grow (not necessarily of ALL mulberries).
I have a buddy in Flint MI who grows a lot of different fruits/nuts… He says IE is no good for him. He sent me scions of his favorite - one he purchased as ‘Pakistan’ - but it definitely is NOT ‘Pakistan’. It’s a rubraXalba hybrid or maybe even just a black-fruited alba… but not very productive and pretty unimpressive, tastewise, here.
I have Wellington - which gets good marks in some places - but it has a horrible growth habit, fruits are small and not all that flavorful… I don’t even bother trying to beat birds to them. It’s a dog here, but evidently good elsewhere.
About all I can say for sure is… Your Mileage May Vary
1 Like
The spectrum of fruit hues I’ve cataloged for M. alba cultivars is from A to Z. Certainly there’s black fruited alba’s along with just about everything else.
To add on to OP’s question, do mulberry varieties differ in their chill hour requirements? Do they even need chill hours at all?