Mulberries

As a kid, there was a mulberry tree down the street that I would religiously check for fruit in the early days of summer. It had many low branches so I could climb it to collect a bucket full. If I didn’t eat all the fruit and brought some home, my mom would make mulberry cobbler served with ice cream. The delayed reward was always a challenge for me when the berries were so juicy it was hard to avoid eating them all in the tree.

As an adult, I still love mulberries. Many of our parks have mulberry trees and it is a joy to bike around looking for fruit. It is easy to spot the mulberry tree along the bike trail because of the purple stain on the ground. When mulberry picking it is difficult to avoid ending up with purple fingers. I have heard that mulberry juice stain can be removed from the fingers by rubbing an unripe mulberry on them. However, I enjoy having purple fingers to remind me of the treats of summer.

Our native mulberry, Morus rubra, commonly known as red mulberry, is a stout tree that grows up to 60’ tall. “In Missouri, it typically occurs in woodlands, rocky places, pastures, fields and along roads throughout the state” (Steyermark). The early-maturing fruits of the mulberries are an important source of food to many kinds of birds. The Wood Duck, Catbird, Eastern Kingbird, Great Crested Flycatcher, Robin, Starling, and Baltimore Oriole all enjoy mulberry. Mulberry trees seem to fruit so prolifically that there are always plenty of berries left even with large flocks visiting.

Not all mulberries are the same. The white mulberry, Morus alba, was introduced to the area as part of the silk trade, to feed the caterpillars. Now it is a listed Midwest Noxious Weed. The paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera, is also an invasive plant. If your yard came with a mulberry, you may want to find out if it is the native or should be removed. A down side of urban mulberries is the purple bird poop on the car.