Replies

1. 
   jonsherryl | Feb 07, 2004 01:34pm | #1

   Wanabe, I'm not sure what you mean by "fruitless" mulberry, but I suspect you are referring to white mulberry; Morus alba. This is an Asian species of mulberry that was brought over here in colonial times because its leaves are the favorite food of silkworms. The silk industry wasn't successful here, but the tree naturalized and, as you say, has become quite plentiful. Some cultivars of this species are fruitless, such as Kingan weeping mulberry, which is used for landscaping, especially on the west coast, because it is drought resistant and also seems to be salt tolerant when used for seashore plantings.

   Anyway, the wood of mulberry is often used by turners, because its figure is very attractive when exposed on a curved surface. Our native red mulberry (Morus rubra) is especially nice, since it also has a vivid yellow color that slowly turns to an attractive warm amber as the wood develops its long term patina. On the other hand, the heartwood of white mulberry tends to be more of an ordinary dull brown in color. Also, white mulberry doesn't normally grow as large as red mulberry, so it's not and important timber species...But, like all of the mulberry species, it has reasonably good working properties, shapes well and is strong enough for cabinetmaking applications, if you can find stock in large enough dimensions. In any event, it's useful for small projects.

2. 
   forestgirl | Feb 08, 2004 01:53am | #2

   "...take away the clumps where they pollard the tree down to."  Oh my, an old pet peeve of mine.  I lived in the Sacramento Valley for years, lots of people used FM trees for shade.  That whole thing of cutting them back every year just drove me crazy!!  Have you ever seen one that was actually allowed to be a tree??  They're really quite nice, big limbs, good shade, climbable trees for youngsters.  I had 3 in my yard, had been cut back for years by the previous owner.  I got an arborist to help me ease them back into real-tree life.  They were so much nicer.

   Whew, sorry, just had to vent.

   forestgirl Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)  you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)

3. 
   TomHigby | Feb 08, 2004 03:48am | #3

   The lack of fruit may indicate male sex.  The american mulberry, at least, divides the sexes.  It's a nice hard wood coarse grained, with a fine gold color.

   Tom