Morus alba

A deciduous tree up to 18 m tall, with smooth grey bark when it is young, but which becomes thick, very cracked and brown or grey with age. The leaves are deciduous, simple, and alternate. They are 3 to 22 cm long, with the width being a little less than this, and very variable in shape: they can be oval, rounded or lobed, with two or more lobes, but always toothed along the margin. They have long stalks that are a little hairy and sometimes exude latex when crushed. They are thin, usually finishing in a tip, heart-shaped at the base and commonly hairless. On the upper side they are shiny, and the underside may have a few hairs between the veins. These features, together with the long-stalked fruits, which when ripe are rather bland and usually white, white-greenish or pinkish in colour (although they are occasionally red or black), differentiate this species from the black mulberry, Morus nigra. The flowers are not very showy and are unisexual, i.e., either male or female. They are usually found on different plants, but sometimes they are separated on the same tree. The fruit should really be called an infructescence, because it is complex and each small ball is a true fruit. These group together to form a structure similar to a blackberry, known in botany as a sorosis. The white mulberry is, however, completely different, because the blackberry is in the rose family (genus Rubus).