Scientific Name
Morus alba ‘Pendula’
The weeping white mulberry is a small “haystack” or “mushroom” weeping tree that’s typically grown on an upright stem of a plain mulberry. The foliage usually is allowed to hit the ground, thus obscuring the trunk during the summer months. There are currently two main weeping varieties, the ‘Pendula’ being the one that’s listed in the Regis Arboretum archives. This is a female type that can sometimes produce a heavy fruit crop, which can be messy. Birds also love eating mulberries and spread the seeds widely, which has caused white mulberry to join invasive plant lists in many states. We suspect this small tree may be the other type, ‘Chapparal,’ which is a male variety, and thus not a fruit producer. We plan to observe this plant more closely in the future. One of the interesting features of this species is that the foliage is quite varied in form; it may be with or without lobes, the lobes may be many or few and they may be shallow or deep.