The leaves, in contrast to those of White Mulberry, are somewhat hairy beneath and rough. The berry-like fruit, ripe in midsummer, is a purplish red. Red Mulberry is sometimes planted as a shade tree. It was brought from China and Japan in an effort to start an American silk industry.
Mulberries are small or medium=sized trees closely related to Hackberry and Osage-orange. The leaves and twigs yield a milky juice. We have native and imported species. The leaves of all are alternate, heart-shaped or lobed, with small, blunt teeth. The Red Mulberry, native and common throughout the East, gave early settlers hope of establishing a silk industry in this country. It is a tree of roadsides and bottomlands.
