Morus rubra

University of Guelph Arboretum


A University of Guelph website says, "red mulberry is likely the most endangered tree species in Canada." I didn't realize it when I sat in one's shade the other day behind Vienna Home Bakery in Toronto, but I was still impressed. The only place I had ever seen one that big was on my own front lawn. Two originally stood between our house and Lake Erie. Lightning destroyed one when I was five.

Mulberries are the preferred food of silkworms. Our surviving tree attracted cecropia moths, which made cocoons the size of small potatoes. The thick, strong trunk was perfect for climbing. Kids and cats loved to play in the branches, and Grey Shadow took her afternoon naps on my brother's tree fort. Birds loved the tree for its bounteous, insipid berries, which turned the patio and soles of our feet purple.

The second tree was struck and killed by lightning in 1986. No mature mulberries remain in the neighbourhood.

The mulberry's leaves stayed green until first hard frost, usually early November, then all dropped at once. It was not like maples or birches, which have changed colour and started dropping regardless of the fact that summer weather has continued.


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