Plant · P-432

White Mulberry

Morus alba

White Mulberry is a fast-growing shade tree whose sweet, insipid fresh fruit turns raisin-like once dried, while its leaves are the exclusive feed of the silkworm and genuinely good forage for cattle, pigs, poultry and rabbits - dairy cows fed it have shown milk gains of up to 32 percent. It tolerates flooding, drought, and both acid and alkaline soil on clay, loam or sand, which is why it establishes almost anywhere. Its shallow, brittle roots and heavy bird-carried seed crop mean seedlings turn up well away from the parent tree, so it is best planted young into its permanent spot and kept clear of watercourses and any red mulberry grown for its own fruit.