North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 08:53 AM 2/15/2005 -0500, you wrote:
> Dave,
>   This time a year the size of the buds are a good indicator. Rubra buds are
> 5-7mm long.Alba are 2-4mm long.
Here's a couple of ID pages

M.rubra - http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/mrubra.htm
            
http://rnrstreamer.lsu.edu/ecosystems/webtour/species/redmulberry/redmulberry.htm

Can't readily find one that has good photos of M.alba to allow 
differentiation from M.rubra - particularly with respect to bud morphology, 
though I did run across some with misinformation - particularly regarding 
fruit color.

Leaf morphology is usually pretty reliable - M.alba leaves are 
glossy/shiny, whereas M.rubra leaves are rough/sandpapery.

In town here, M.alba is everywhere - in roadside ditches, fencelines, 
cracks in the pavement, etc., but once you get out into the country, 
M.rubra is more evident - mostly along roadsides and wood's edges, but also 
scattered throughout the woods; nowhere is it exceptionally common, and it 
would be a major stretch to classify M.rubra as 'invasive'.

Lucky