North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

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

At 01:22 PM 8/4/2005, you wrote:
> Luck,
> Do you ever run across Morus rubra seedlings, or is it mainly M.alba
> that spreads via seeds?
Mark,
All the M.rubra trees I've ever seen(except for specimens I have grafted 
onto M.alba rootstock) are seedlings.
Overall, M.alba seedlings are, I suppose, much more common, but I can take 
you to stretches of rural country road through the woods here in the 
county, where M.rubra is every bit as prevalent as M.alba is in town.  It 
really seems to thrive at the interface between the forest and the edge of 
the roadside banks/cuts - but maybe it's just that they're so VISIBLE 
there, as one drives along.
Additionally, M.rubra is scattered throughout the forest - usually as a 
single tree here and there, and they seem to be quite shade-tolerant, with 
young trees growing relatively slowly beneath the canopy of the 
overshadowing oaks & hickories.
In the woods on the farm back home in AL, there are a number of big, old 
M.rubra trees, with gnarly twisted trunks and dark, furrowed bark.  I think 
it makes a fairly decent landscape specimen, as its leaves tend to be quite 
a bit larger than those of M.alba or the M.albaXrubra hybrids, and 
typically have a much darker green color.  Fall color is a fairly 
consistent yellow.  Habit is much sturdier and immensely less ratty than 
that of the weedy M.alba.
LLP