1. Guides
  2. Invasive Exotic Plants of North Carolina
  3. Paper Mulberry

Paper Mulberry

Broussonetia papyrifera

Summary 6

The paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera, syn. Morus papyrifera L.) is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia, where its range includes China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, and India. It is widely cultivated elsewhere and it grows as an introduced species in parts of Europe, the United States, and Africa. Other common names include tapa cloth tree.

Description and biology 7

  • Plant: deciduous tree with milky sap that grows to a maximum height of about 45 ft. (15 m.); twigs of paper mulberry are hairy reddish brown, the bark is tan and smooth to moderately furrowed, the wood is soft and brittle, and it has conical buds; stems and leaves hirsute.
  • Leaves: alternate, opposite, and whorled, densely gray-pubescent, often 3-15-lobed (the lobes sometimes deep), with leaf margins sharply toothed, and leaf base heart-shaped to rounded; upper leaf surface is somewhat rough feeling.
  • Flowers, fruits and seeds: separate male and female flowers appear in the spring; male flower clusters are elongate, pendulous, 2½-3 in. long, and composed of many individual flowers; female flowers are globular and about 1 in. diameter; fruits are reddish purple to orange, ¾-1 in. across, mature in summer.
  • Spreads: by seed and by vegetative growth through sprouting.
  • Look-alikes: exotic invasive white mulberry (Morus alba) and native trees including red mulberry (Morus rubra), American basswood (Tilia americana) and sassafras (Sassafras albidum), due to a shared leaf form.

Ecological threat in the united states 8

Once established it grows vigorously, displacing native plants through competition and shading. If left unmanaged, paper mulberry can dominate a site. Its shallow root system makes it susceptible to blowing over during high winds, posing a hazard to people and causing slope erosion and further degradation of an area.

Distribution and habitat in the united states 9

Found from Illinois to Massachusetts, south to Florida and west to Texas, paper mulberry invades open habitats such as forest and field edges. Internationally, it is identified as an invasive weed in over a dozen countries.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Gmihail, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broussonetia_leaves.jpg
  2. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10237851
  3. Daderot, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broussonetia_papyrifera_-_Botanischer_Garten_Freiburg_-_DSC06385.jpg
  4. (c) Forest & Kim Starr, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_030807-0108_Broussonetia_papyrifera.jpg
  5. (c) Forest & Kim Starr, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_060422-7902_Broussonetia_papyrifera.jpg
  6. Adapted by Kate Wagner from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broussonetia_papyrifera
  7. (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22733942
  8. (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22733941
  9. (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22733940

More Info

iNat Map

Member of the iNaturalist Network   |   Powered by iNaturalist open source software |   Documentation for developers