Morus rubra

Red mulberry is a native (not introduced) species that is easily confused with white mulberry (Morus alba). Red mulberry forms substantial trees 30-60 feet tall; it is much less common in Jackson Park that white mulberry. The trunk is short with greyish-brown bark; the bark is divided into strips by shallow vertical furrows. The leaves are alternate, 4-7+” long and 3-5″ across, oval or egg-shaped in outline with serrated margins and a sharp tip. The leaves can either be a simple oval with a pointed tip or a two to three (rarely five) lobed leaf with a pointed terminal lobe; the unlobed leaves are more common. Individual trees are usually either male (with staminate florets in drooping, whitish to yellow-green catkins 3/4-2″ long) or female (with pistillate florets in less obvious green, erect, cylindrical catkins 3/4″ long), but trees that produce both male and female florets are known. Male florets are 1/4″ long with four light green sepals, four stamens, and no pistil or petals. (BTW, the pollen is released by mechanically flinging it into the air via the catapult-like stamens.) Female florets are 1/4″ long with four light-green sepals, a single, flattened-oval ovary with two white to reddish, sessile stigmas and no stamens or petals. The fruit is a blackberry-like compound drupe that typically changes color from green to red to finally purplish-black with maturation. White mulberry can be usually be distinguished from black mulberry by the leaves; the underside of white mulberry leaves is invariably hairless and the top surface smooth, but the underside of red mulberry leaves is covered with small hairs and the upper surface is rough. However, white and red mulberry hybridize, which can confuse matters significantly. Leaves may be lobed, but less commonly than in white mulberry.