Plants That Produce

Morus The Mulberry

By Richard Frost

Most fruiting Mulberries are in the biological genus Morus, although the related Chinese Mulberry is in the nearby genus Maclura. There is a lot of ambiguous information out there about fruiting mulberries so I hope this month’s column will help you sort things out. You should be able to find a fruiting mulberry that interests you in bareroot form this winter at a local nursery.

The fruits of Mulberries are compound fruits, much like a blackberry in appearance and sometimes in taste. The fruits are a half inch or so wide and the length varies from 1 to 6 inches depending upon the species and cultivar. The colors of the fruit are initially green and then become white, red, pink, lavender, purple, or black – again depending upon the species and cultivar. One myth I would like to dispel right away is that color is not an indicator of taste.

The most common species of fruiting mulberries is Morus alba – which a student of Latin will tell you translates to “white Mulberry”. This species is native to ancient China and has been cultivated throughout Asia for at least 4,000 years. It generally becomes a large tree, 30 or more feet high if not regularly pruned. Here’s an important fact to remember: the fruits of the “white Mulberry” can ripen to white, pink, lavender, red, purple, or black depending on the cultivar. So keep in mind that a “white Mulberry” does not necessarily have white fruit. Further, not all white-fruited white-Mulberries have outstanding sweet fruit. If this is what you are looking for then be sure to obtain either the cultivar ‘Tehama’ or ‘Hunza White Seedless’. Other excellent choices include ‘Downing’ aka ‘Pink Downing’ for its pink fruit, and the Morus alba cultivar ‘Black Mulberry’ which is a black-fruited white Mulberry.

Not everyone who likes mulberries wants a large tree to maintain. For you we have the great tasting Morus alba cultivar ‘Paradise’ which has lavender colored fruits and grows to about 15 or 20 feet unpruned. The Morus hybrid ‘Geraldi Dwarf’ is a 10 to 15 foot tree (unpruned) with outstanding black fruit. Also consider the Morus nigra cultivar ‘Black Persian’. The latter has the added benefit of being an inherently smaller species that grows better as a tall shrub than a tree.

I have recently heard suggestions that “Persian Mulberries” have the best fruit. Now the species Morus nigra (“black Mulberry”) is native to the Persian region. However, mulberries have been cultivated and transplanted all across Asia for millennia. Specifically, one of my colleagues is from central Persia and he has a white-fruiting Morus alba cultivar which he insists is a true Persian mulberry!

Last but not least you should be aware of Maclura tricuspidata, the “Chinese Mulberry” or “Che” (also Cudrang, Zhe). This moderate size tree produces a light red fruit about the size of a ping-pong ball. The taste and texture of the fruit is reminiscent of a raspberry. The plant has some thorns but the fruit is well worth it.

SDHS member Richard Frost is a certified edible gardening nut. For copies of past articles and more information, please see www.PlantsThatProduce.com.

Reprinted with permission from November 2009 "Let's Talk Plants," the newsletter of the San Diego Horticultural Society, www.sdhortsoc.org

© 2009 San Diego Horticultural Society