Welcome to the "Fruitless Mulberry Podcast!". The scientific name for the fruitless mulberry is Morus alba. The genus Morus is best known for its fruit, the mulberry. But as with this plant, it has no fruit, hence the name, fruitless mulberry. All its members in the genus Morus is deciduous and most are tropical. This tree belongs to the Moraceae family, and in this family, the stems contain a milky sap, which has latex in it. The fruitless mulberries are the male trees of the white mulberry, so they don't produce messy fruits that stain clothing and walkways with a reddish-purplish juice like the females do. They're native to the country of China, but are abundant in Jpan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Birma as well. Escapes have become naturalized in North America and Europe. This tree used to be considered one of the two most important timber trees of China, and most Chinese homesteads had one or two of each planted nearby. They were also very important for the production of silk. The expresssion "Sang Tzu" means "Land of the mulberry and catalpa" and it's still a common phrase in Chinese meaning "home" or "homeland." In California, they're most commonly planted in the Southern part of the state. These trees usually grow between 30-50 ft, and have an umbrella-shaped crown. It has gray bark and small leaves that are thin and broadly ovate. The surface of the leaves are pale green, smooth and glossy and are sometimes hairy underneath, and they're also deeply veined. The fruitless mulberries' leaves provide excellent shade and are fast-growing. Fruitless mulberries are wind-pollinated, so male trees produce copius pollen which can really make people who have hay-fever suffer alot. Individual male flowers contain four stamens, each with an anther and filament. At the bottom of each filament, there's a fleshy green sepal. These trees prefer to be planted in deep soil, but can tolerate all kinds of conditions. They can grow in alkaline soil and during a drought. Since they can withstand a drought, they don't need much water consumption. They're low and flexible on water uptake. They're also pollution-resistant so they're able to thrive in urban areas. On the Davis Senior High School campus, the fruitless mulberry tree is located between the O-building and the auto shop. Thanks for tuning in!

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