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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Morus rubra, Red Mulberry

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Morus rubra, Red Mulberry
  • Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 13:50:18 -0500

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




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