mulberry

Male and female flowers of the black mulberry grow on separate bushes but the fruits form on the female trees whether or not they have been fertilized.

Any of a group of trees consisting of a dozen species, including the black mulberry (M. nigra). It is native to western Asia and has heart-shaped, toothed leaves and spikes of whitish flowers. It is widely cultivated for its compound fruits, which resemble raspberries. The leaves of the Asiatic white mulberry (M. alba) are those used in feeding silkworms. (Genus Morus, family Moraceae.)

The red mulberry (M. rubra) of the eastern US also has large edible multiple fruits.

Mulberry

City in Polk County, central Florida, 14 km/9 mi west of Bartow; population (1990) 3,000.

Long established as a centre of phosphate mining, Mulberry became notorious for its lawlessness in the 1880s. In 1919 it was the scene of a violent strike. Much of the landscape of this area has been despoiled by opencast strip mining. In 1992, the first food irradiation plant in the USA opened here amid health and environmental controversies.