BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Morus rubra | Red Mulberry 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Red mulberry is a native, deciduous, small tree with a spreading,
rounded crown [6,10,19,37].  Mature height usually ranges from 15 to 70
feet (5-21 m) [19].  The bark is dark and scaly [9], divided into
irregular, elongate plates, and is 0.5 to 0.75 inches (1.2-1.9 cm) thick
[37].  The inner bark is tough and fibrous [6].  The roots are shallow
[36].

The national champion red mulberry reported from Michigan in 1981 is 72
feet (21.9 m) tall, 18.75 feet (5.7 m) in circumference, and has a
98-foot (29.8-m) crown spread [10].  Red mulberry usually lives 125
years or less [36].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Red mulberry is usually dioecious but can be monoecious.  The youngest
seed-bearing age is usually around 10 years, but plants as young as 4
years have been reported to bear seed.  Optimum seed-bearing ages are
between 30 and 85 years, and the maximum age for seed production is 125
years.  Good seed crops are produced every 2 to 3 years.  Mature fruits
fall near the tree, but most are consumed before becoming fully mature.
The seeds are dispersed by frugivores, mostly birds, after passing
through their digestive tracts.  Seeds are either sown in fall without
stratification or in spring after 30 to 90 days at 33 to 41 degrees
Fahrenheit (1-5 deg C) in moist sand [19].

Vegetative reproduction:  Red mulberry sprouts from the roots, and is
reported to be artificially propagated by stem cuttings, budding, or
layering [19].  Baca and others [2], however, were unable to get red
mulberry stem cuttings to form roots.


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Red mulberry grows well under a wide variety of conditions.  In the
southern portion of its range, best growth occurs on moist, well-drained
soils of coves and floodplains [19].  Red mulberry grows on a variety of
soils including clays, sands, and loams [31].  It tolerates a wide range
of soil pH [31].  It is often found in pastures and on field borders
[19].  Rothenberger [29] reported that in eastern Nebraska red mulberry
is codominant in frequently flooded riverbottom forests, important in
the well-drained soils of the transitional forests upslope from the
riverbottom, and minor in the drier upland terrace forests.


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Red mulberry is found in both mid-successional and climax forests. In
old fields in Illinois germination peaks occurred at high
temperature/moderate moisture and moderate temperature/high moisture
conditions.  Germination was highest in soils with intermediate levels
of organic matter.  Seedling emergence was negatively associated with
irradiance and poisitively associated with litter cover [5].  In
Mississippi red mulberry seedlings establish in reforested bottomland
old fields [23].  It is also found in reforested (83-year-old and
110-year-old) old fields in North Carolina.  It is not always an early
colonizer of old fields [4].  In north-central Texas red mulberry occurs
in undisturbed winged elm (Ulmus alata)-post oak (Quercus
stellata)-Shumard oak (Q. shumardii) stands, but not in successional
stands [24].  A study of oldfield succession in Ohio found that red
mulberry was present in 90-year-old stands but not in younger stands.
The authors reported only one red mulberry seed germinating from soil
samples taken from a 200-year-old stand [28].  Burton and Bazzaz [5]
suggested that based on average emergence across a range of seral
habitats, red mulberry is less successful in colonizing old fields than
honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos), red maple, ashes (Fraxinus spp.),
hawthorns (Crataegus spp.), and black cherry (Prunus serotina).

Red mulberry grows best in the open, but is somewhat tolerant of shade
[19].  In old-growth, mesic forests, red mulberry is found in mid-sized
gaps (666 square yards [550 sq m]) more often than in small or large
gaps [30].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Red mulberry catkins appear in April and May.  Fruits mature from
June to August and fall from the tree when fully ripe [19].

Related categories for Species: Morus rubra | Red Mulberry