Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Morus nigra

Family

Moraceae

Flowering season

May to June

English distribution

It is scattered throughout the country but is less common

in the far North and the far Southwest.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland –

Black mulberry

Habitat

It is a neophyte which has been grown in the UK since at

least the mid 1500s.

It is grown in large gardens, estates and parks from which

it has escaped and became naturalised on waste ground

and walls.

Description

Black Mulberry is a deciduous tree growing up to 12m

and with a broad crown.

The flowers are monoecious with both male and female

flowers on the same tree or dioecious with male and

male flowers on separate trees.

The flowers have no petals and are in short, dense

spikes up to 3.5cm. 

Male flowers have 5 stamens (not shown).

Female flowers have a green, globose ovule and 2

white, hairy, linear stigmas.

The fruits are an aggregate of drupes resembling a

large blackberry. They turn from green to red to black,

becomming ripe and edible in July and August.

The seeds are fertile and spread by birds and other

animals.

The leaves are dark green, strongly veined, broadly

oval, pointed and serrated.

The twigs are at first green and then brown and hairy.

The trunk is randomly fissured. 

Reproduction also occurs vegetatively. New shoots

can arise from buried logs.