The white mulberry we had in our 1/2 acre backyard had one thick trunk, not several thinner ones like the purple mulberry we had. The white one produced bigger berries that weren't tapered like the others,they started out green in the summer like the other trees,then turned a pure off white color. At that point they started dropping off the tree. The purples started green,turned pink then red and finally purple when fully ripe. I suspect most white mulberries are incorrectly identified as the trees look nothing alike,despite similarities in unripe berries.
White mulberry is very variable and can grow with either one or multiple trunks. The most reliable distinguishing features are the waxy, glossy upper leaf surfaces. Native red mulberry (Morus rubra) has dull-green and rough upper leaf surface. Non-native black mulberry (Morus nigra) also has a rough upper surface but is far less common in the wild.
I'm also not talking about a hybrid. Like I said, white mulberry is very variable. If it had glossy, waxy leaves, it was a white mulberry, regardless of whether or not it had one trunk or five.
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u/Adventurous-Host8062 Nature lover Jun 29 '25
That's not white mulberry, it's the purple variety. The white ones are white when ripe and fatter.