Tree · Moraceae
Red mulberry
Morus rubra · includes its varieties and subspecies
Red mulberry is recorded as native to 32 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,382 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Red mulberry at a glance
- Native in
- 1,382 counties, across 32 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 70 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Red mulberry is recorded as native to 32 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,382 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,382 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 61 counties
- Arkansas 75 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 48 counties
- Georgia 36 counties
- Illinois 90 counties
- Indiana 68 counties
- Iowa 9 counties
- Kansas 61 counties
- Kentucky 120 counties
- Louisiana 59 counties
- Massachusetts 4 counties
- Michigan 13 counties
- Minnesota 2 counties
- Mississippi 62 counties
- Missouri 114 counties
- Nebraska 11 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New York 30 counties
- North Carolina 63 counties
- Ohio 87 counties
- Oklahoma 31 counties
- Pennsylvania 40 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 33 counties
- Tennessee 57 counties
- Texas 51 counties
- Vermont 1 county
- Virginia 90 counties
- West Virginia 41 counties
- Wisconsin 6 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 70 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Rounded
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 35 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 24 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 140
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Purple
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Moraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- MORU2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Morus rubra (PLANTS symbol MORU2), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources