White Mulberry
From Freepedia
| White Mulberry | ||||||||||||||
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| Image:Morus-alba.jpg White Mulberry leaves and fruit | ||||||||||||||
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| Morus alba L. |
The White Mulberry, scientific name Morus alba, is a short-lived, fast-growing, small to medium sized tree to 15-20 m tall, native to eastern Asia. The fruit of the White Mulberry is mild, unlike the much more intense flavour of the Red Mulberry and Black Mulberry. The fruit varies from white to pink in colour in many cultivated plants, but the natural fruit colour of the species in the wild is deep purple.
On young, vigorous shoots, White Mulberry leaves may be up to 20 cm long, and deeply and intricately lobed, with the lobes rounded. On older trees, the leaves are generally 8-15 cm long, entire, cordate at the base and acuminate at the tip, and serrated on the margin.
White Mulberry is extensively planted throughout the warm temperate Northern Hemisphere, and is naturalized in urban areas of the United States, where it hybridises to some extent with the U.S. native Red Mulberry (Morus rubra). In fact, some authorities worry about the long-term genetic viability of Red Mulberry because of extensive hybridization in some areas.
The leaves are the preferred feedstock for silkworms, and are also cut for food for livestock (cattle, goats, etc.) in areas where dry seasons restrict the availability of ground vegetation.
A weeping cultivar of White Mulberry Morus alba 'Pendula' is a popular ornamental plant. Weeping plants are propagated by grafting the weeping cultivar onto a non weeping rootstock.
