Home | > | List of families | > | Moraceae | > | Morus | > | alba |
Synonyms: | |
Common names: | Common mulberry (English) White mulberry (English) |
Frequency: | Frequent escape in urban areas |
Status: | Introduced |
Description: |
Small deciduous tree with a rounded crown and often drooping branches. Leaves light green, somewhat glossy with distinct venation; margin coarsely dentate, sometimes lobed. Flowers in small cylindical spikes. Fruit a cylindric cluster of small berry-like syncarps, from almost white to deep red, turning purple-black when ripe. |
Notes: | Widely cultivated for its edible fruit. It is known as a common naturalised escape particularly around Harare. It is not an agressive invader (yet) but is a declared invader in South Africa. |
Derivation of specific name: | alba: white |
Habitat: | Waste land and riverine fringes |
Altitude range: (metres) | |
Flowering time: | Sep - Oct |
Worldwide distribution: | Native of China, naturalised elsewhere |
Zimbabwe distribution: | C |
Growth form(s): | Tree, shrub over 2 m. |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | spilosoma lineata (Larval foodplant) |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Images last updated: | Sunday 2 April 2006 |
Literature: |
Burrows, J.E. & Burrows, S.M. (2003). Figs of Southern and South-Central Africa Umdaus Press, South Africa Pages 336 - 340. As Morus alba (Includes a picture). Drummond, R.B. (1975). A list of trees, shrubs and woody climbers indigenous or naturalised in Rhodesia. Kirkia 10(1) Page 233. As Morus alba Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 63. |
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