[MAIPC] Another Non-Native Mulberry: Morus australis

[Mark Frey]

Also recently reported from Alexandria
Mark

On Wednesday, August 26, 2015, Judy Fulton <jfulton5 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Has anyone been seeing Morus australis (Chinese mulberry), a mulberry
> tree/shrub that seems to have recently arrived on these shores? You can
> find information on the species in the Flora of China at
> http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200006380. In
> addition, people have been submitting photos of this species to a plant
> identification Facebook page (
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/156706504394635/search/?query=Morus%20australis).
>
>
> Botanist Charlie Davis and I run an informal plant ID lab twice a month at
> the Natural History Society of Maryland, and attendees have brought M.
> australis samples to two out of the last three sessions. One specimen came
> from Meadow Lane (an alley near W. University Parkway) in Baltimore and
> another from Old Hanover Road in Reisterstown, MD. Attached are photos from
> the sapling brought to the lab from Old Hanover Road on 8/10/15.
>
> Apparently there have been increasing numbers of sightings in N. America
> although Charlie said that sometimes specimens have been misidentified as
> Morus alba. Note that M. australis leaves vary from entire to deeply lobed,
> and its lobes tend to be thinner/longer than M. alba's. Some people have
> even thought that the M. australis plants were figs based on leaf shape
> although other characteristics are clearly quite different. It has also
> been reported that M. australis is hard to kill -- that it regrows with
> multiple stems if cut down; however, I don't know whether any herbicides
> were used concurrently.
>
> I'm thinking that this might become the next invasive Morus species.
>
> Judy
> ____________________________________________
>
> Judith P. Fulton
> Master Gardener
> University of Maryland Extension
> 410-337-3701
> jfulton5 at gmail.com <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','jfulton5 at gmail.com');>
>
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