Tree of the Week: Red Mulberry (Morus rubra)

We have a young red mulberry (Morus rubra) that deserves a mention this week. It's a small tree with slender, waving branches, and this week, all of the branches are covered in little berries. The tree was planted as a bare root sapling in the spring of 2013, making the tree at least 6 years old. For such a young tree, it is producing a lot of berries! You can find this specimen on the sunny, grassy slope north of Cline Hall. Help yourself to a few berries, but make sure you get the ripe (black) ones!

This fruiting red mulberry is growing in full sun, on a gradual slope, in clay soil. Thus far, no fertilizers have been used. During the long, hot summers, this area is soaked at least once a week by way of the in-ground irrigation system.

The primrose volunteered here, and we have been cultivating it around the trunk of the red mulberry.

The ripening berries appear alongside the new, yellow-green leaves.

We are seeing a lot of berries!

These berries aren't quite ripe yet. Wait until they turn black.

The berries are approximately half an inch long. They are similar to the blackberries you find in the grocery store and also the wild, native dewberry. The red mulberry is the queen of our native fruits.

The ripening dewberries are almost indistinguishable from the mulberries. The berry on the far left was collected from a dewberry patch, while the three berries on the right are mulberries. If you have the space, plant a a morus rubra and enjoy!

Tree of the Week: Bois D'arc (Maclura pomifera)

It's getting towards the end of July and northwest Louisiana is under a heat advisory. Its hot, hot, hot. What better time to talk about shade trees? The bois d'arc (Maclura pomifera) is largely known and recognized by its unusual fruit: a mostly inedible green, softball-sized syncarp. These drop to the ground in late summer and early fall. Although the fruit might not be edible, we can appreciate the great work these trees are doing to provide relief from the sun.

We have a solitary bois d'arc in the arboretum collection. In 2000, Ed Leuck collected bois d'arc fruit from East Kings Highway in Shreveport, quite close to Centenary's campus. Those seeds germinated in the campus greenhouse, and the most promising specimen was planted as a small tree in 2004. We presume it to be male, since it hasn't produced fruit. This species is dioecious, individual trees are either male or female, unlike many species of plants. The tree is doing so well, and the fruit of the species is so odd, that adding a female counterpart to the collection might be in order.

The Maclura pomifera in the arboretum collection is approximately 16 years old. It's a healthy tree, helping to shade the paths of the arboretum. All photos were taken at approximately 11 a.m., on a very hot, sunny July day.

Not much grows under this bois d'arc, probably because of the heavy shade and the slope of the hill. Unfortunately this creates an erosion problem, exposing tree roots. The orange root of the bois d'arc can be seen in the photo above.

The roots of the bois d'arc are characteristically orange.

Only a little light hits the ground under the bois d'arc. On the other side, the concrete sidewalk is brightly lit by the late morning sun.

Looking up, the branches of the bois d'arc jut out in every direction from the trunk, a much wilder display of branches when compared with last week's tree-of-the-week, Fagus grandifolia.

Branchlet of Maclura pomifera blocking the sun

The simple leaves of Maclura pomifera have an egg-like shape but are distinctly pointed at the tip.

When working near a bois d'arc tree, one must watch out for the thorns.

A young crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) climbs the trunk of Maclura pomifera.

You can find additional images of this tree here.

For more information about this species consult the following:
Louisiana Plant Identification and Interactive Virtual Tours
Texas Native Plants Database
United States Department of Agriculture

Tree of the Week: Red Mulberry (Morus rubra)

Berry production is underway on the grassy slope north of Cline Hall. The arboretum's two red mulberry trees are producing tasty black berries, and the branches of the two young trees are still low enough to the ground to make for an easy harvest. These two trees were purchased in the spring of 2013, at the Sabine Soil and Water Conservation District tree sale in Ringgold, Louisiana, and were planted directly in the ground the same season. Both trees are healthy, but one is clearly outshining the other, growing taller and producing more berries. The more successful tree has less competition for sun and water.

The more successful of the two trees has less competition, planted away from any big trees and near a good sprinkler.

The root system of this mulberry is competing with an elderly white oak (Quercus alba).

Ripening fruit

The ripe berry resembles a blackberry

Cluster of berries on the more successful tree

While documenting the progress of these two red mulberries, the arboretum's older mulberry tree was examined. Approximately 10 years ago a mulberry volunteered in the drainage of the arboretum, becoming a very healthy shade tree. This tree is also fruiting, but unlike the specimens shown above, these berries are white. This suggests that our volunteer is a white mulberry (Morus alba) or a hybrid, which is an invasive non-native species. If further research shows this specimen to be an invasive white mulberry, the tree will be removed.

White berries on the volunteer mulberry tree (possibly Morus alba or mulberry hybrid)

For more information about the red mulberry consult the following:
United States Department of Agriculture
The Morton Arboretum
Louisiana Plant Identification and Interactive Virtual Tours (LSU AgCenter)

Maclura pomifera