{"id":20318,"date":"2022-11-03T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=20318"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:46:18","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-red-mulberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-red-mulberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Red Mulberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees.<\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a> exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the red mulberry or\u00a0Morus rubra.\"Drawing<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Red mulberry has variable leaves, which can come without lobes (entire) or with two (mitten), three or even five lobes. Regardless of shape, the leaves have serrated margins and pointed tips and are arranged alternately on the twigs. The topside of the dark green leaves is sandpapery to the touch and has a matte or flat finish. The dark green leaves turn a golden yellow in the fall.<\/p>\n

Basswood<\/a>\u00a0has leaves similar to the unlobed variety of red mulberry, but those leaves are smooth to the touch and have finely toothed margins.\u00a0White mulberry<\/a>, which is not native to Indiana, also has similar leaves to its cousin red mulberry, but those leaves are typically bright green and smooth, have more rounded teeth on the margins and feature a shinier upper leaf surface.<\/p>\n

The bark of red mulberry is gray or brown in color with long flaky ridges, but may show some orange or tan peeking through the fissures in the bark.<\/p>\n

The fruit of red mulberry, which hangs individually only the twig, resembles a small blackberry, with a dark purple or almost black color when ripe, that is favored by both birds and humans. Mulberry fruit is typically produced from mid-June to July.<\/p>\n

Red mulberry, which is often found under the canopy of other hardwood trees in moist areas such as river bottoms as well as along wooded slopes, wood\u2019s edges and shady roadways, are typically small understory trees, but can\u00a0grow between 40 and 60 feet tall.<\/em>\u00a0Red mulberries are becoming less common on the landscape than the invasive white mulberry, but can be found growing throughout the eastern United States.<\/p>\n

The Morton Arboretum<\/a>\u00a0warns that red mulberry is susceptible to a variety of pests, including leaf spots, witches brooms, canker diseases, powdery mildew, spider mites and scale insects.<\/p>\n