Mulberries, by request
This is the first in a series of posts done by request in exchange for a donation to my Bowling For Rhinos efforts. (There's still time to donate!)
Mulberry (Genus Morus) is a small fruit-bearing tree of a couple dozen different species. In urban areas, the species most often encountered is white mulberry (M. alba, urban species number 311 in my 2006 project). White mulberry is native to east Asia, and was imported around the world in the 1700s, when intercontinental trade of life forms was booming. Mulberries were already well-known, mainly as the primary food source for the caterpillars that produced silk in Asia. Attempts to start a silk industry in North America were halting at best.
Still, the trees are quick growing, attractive, and produce fruit that is edible to humans. This alone would be reason to see them throughout the cities and suburbs, but humans are not the only agents spreading these trees around. In fact, birds probably plant more mulberries than humans do, through eating the fruit and depositing seed-rich droppings. During the fruiting season (the past 3 weeks or so, this year) you can eat more than your fill of wild mulberry fruits on a short walk in Boston. I find that they vary wildly in flavor from tree to tree, but that even the best ones aren't as tasty as the average black raspberry. Apparently other species of mulberry are tastier, but since white mulberry was cultivated to be worm food, not people food, it doesn't devote as much sugar energy to the fruit as some other kinds. (Probably there are white mulberry cultivars that are selected for tasty fruit, and their genes are out there in the city, accounting for the some of the variability in wild trees.)
The craze of introducing plants and animals around the world seems baffling these days, especially since eastern North America had a perfectly good native mulberry (Red mulberry M. rubra) already living here. (Much as we had perfectly good red foxes, sparrows, game birds, and various wildflowers--but those Europeans loved to make everything look like Europe.) White mulberry is more successful, having survived artificial conditions in Asia for centuries before being brought to a continent with none of its natural enemies. It also hybridizes with red mulberry, and there is some worry that white mulberry will overwhelm red, causing the North American mulberry's extinction. Red mulberry is listed as endangered in Canada, and white mulberry is considered invasive by many agencies.
Mulberry is an exceeding common "weed tree" at the zoo where I work. Mulberry branches have to be cut constantly, often because the tree has sprung up in an inconvenient place, blocking a gate or a pathway. Fallen berries are so profuse that they cause pest issues, fattening rodents and attracting flies. In some places they have to be cleaned up or they form a slick of rotting goo that is slippery and dangerous to walk on! Fortunately, unlike Ailanthus, another weed tree from Asia, mulberry foliage is edible. Branches of this Asian plant are cut and fed to herbivores from Africa and South America, in the urban environment of North America. White mulberry, wanted or not, is a most cosmopolitan tree.
A plaque honoring white mulberry, in Portland Oregon's Chinatown,/a>.
A blog post from summer 2008 where I mention the different tasting mulberries from three different trees in a parking lot.
My 365 species entry on white mulberry. (with lots of pictures!)
Mulberry (Genus Morus) is a small fruit-bearing tree of a couple dozen different species. In urban areas, the species most often encountered is white mulberry (M. alba, urban species number 311 in my 2006 project). White mulberry is native to east Asia, and was imported around the world in the 1700s, when intercontinental trade of life forms was booming. Mulberries were already well-known, mainly as the primary food source for the caterpillars that produced silk in Asia. Attempts to start a silk industry in North America were halting at best.
Still, the trees are quick growing, attractive, and produce fruit that is edible to humans. This alone would be reason to see them throughout the cities and suburbs, but humans are not the only agents spreading these trees around. In fact, birds probably plant more mulberries than humans do, through eating the fruit and depositing seed-rich droppings. During the fruiting season (the past 3 weeks or so, this year) you can eat more than your fill of wild mulberry fruits on a short walk in Boston. I find that they vary wildly in flavor from tree to tree, but that even the best ones aren't as tasty as the average black raspberry. Apparently other species of mulberry are tastier, but since white mulberry was cultivated to be worm food, not people food, it doesn't devote as much sugar energy to the fruit as some other kinds. (Probably there are white mulberry cultivars that are selected for tasty fruit, and their genes are out there in the city, accounting for the some of the variability in wild trees.)
The craze of introducing plants and animals around the world seems baffling these days, especially since eastern North America had a perfectly good native mulberry (Red mulberry M. rubra) already living here. (Much as we had perfectly good red foxes, sparrows, game birds, and various wildflowers--but those Europeans loved to make everything look like Europe.) White mulberry is more successful, having survived artificial conditions in Asia for centuries before being brought to a continent with none of its natural enemies. It also hybridizes with red mulberry, and there is some worry that white mulberry will overwhelm red, causing the North American mulberry's extinction. Red mulberry is listed as endangered in Canada, and white mulberry is considered invasive by many agencies.
Mulberry is an exceeding common "weed tree" at the zoo where I work. Mulberry branches have to be cut constantly, often because the tree has sprung up in an inconvenient place, blocking a gate or a pathway. Fallen berries are so profuse that they cause pest issues, fattening rodents and attracting flies. In some places they have to be cleaned up or they form a slick of rotting goo that is slippery and dangerous to walk on! Fortunately, unlike Ailanthus, another weed tree from Asia, mulberry foliage is edible. Branches of this Asian plant are cut and fed to herbivores from Africa and South America, in the urban environment of North America. White mulberry, wanted or not, is a most cosmopolitan tree.
A plaque honoring white mulberry, in Portland Oregon's Chinatown,/a>.
A blog post from summer 2008 where I mention the different tasting mulberries from three different trees in a parking lot.
My 365 species entry on white mulberry. (with lots of pictures!)