Fruitless mulberry, cottonwood or other?

Please i.d. this tree. It is about 12' tall.
Thank you.

Please i.d. this tree. Sorry for my previous post.

My guess would be Mulberry, not sure if Red or White, prolly White (Morus alba), the non-native, invasive one that doesn't have good fruit.
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/m/moralb/moralb1.html

flowerette:

Handle the foliage on your young plant - is it coarse, thick, somewhat rough to the touch?

I'm going to agree with shortleaf on the genus Morus, mulberry - but disagree with his suggestion that this one is White Mulberry (Morus alba). White Mulberry usually has thinner glossier foliage and ridiculously vigorous growth habit.

If this has coarse thicker and rougher leaves, then I think you have the native Red Mulberry (Morus rubra). The stem and buds that I can see look right for Red Mulberry.

You should take and post more pictures of your plant, including an image of the whole plant (always a good starting point), and then some additional closeups of the stem and of the buds. Mulberries are quite commonly posted for ID here, and they are notoriously difficult to ID from a single image. Mulberries are wonderful changelings, having a propensity to throw leaf shapes ranging from a simple blade to multiple lobes to almost snowflake-like presentation.

I'll also differ with shortleaf on the fruit. I've eaten mulberries of all stripes (well, they were actually solid in color - black and soft when ripe - both from the Red and the White species, some hybrids, and additional exotic species) and while there are some variations in plumpness and amount of fruit from tree to tree, there weren't significant differences in edibility.

When ripe, they are all sweet and juicy. It is a mistake to assume that Red Mulberry has good fruit and White Mulberry does not. Additionally, birds offer no resistance to any of them, taking the fruit like it's a narcotic. You'll find that evidence in their droppings during the height of ripe season.

White Mulberry is an exotic invasive species, seeding itself in with abandon in waste places as well as in native plant communities where it thrives and crowds out a lot of things that should be growing there instead. I'd delete as many White Mulberry plants as I could get my hands on, and reinsert the native Red Mulberry.

Let's see some more images of your plant.

Well VV, hey I can take some constructive criticism. Really, VV (John) is a good guy, very knowledgeable. Yeah, I've heard that about White Mulberry fruits being tasteful to some.
Personally, I think birds get all the good ones off that tree and just leave the White, Red and Pink ones, which in my experience are pretty nasty. I heard about you tho VV, you'll eat a worm for a quarter and a millipede for 50 cents..lol Thats just a joke! I have to razz you some for being such a contradictory sort! : )
I just think White Mulberry is a scourge, popping up everywhere. I don't think I've ever heard of a case where Red Mulberry pops up on accident. Altho, I'm sure it has somewhere. I've been wrong before.
Will

Absolutely no disagreement on the pestiferousness of Morus alba - and the white, pink, red fruits just aren't ripe yet!

Red Mulberry seedlings could certainly pop up anywhere that they are native, and birds (or others) deposit the seeds. They just need some help from us, by planting a few parent trees where they've been extirpated.

My claim to fame is eating Pyrus calleryana flowers after losing a bet. At least that resulted in a few less invasive seedlings...

Ewww.. Bradford Pear flowers, thats a pretty smelly flower to eat, thats worse than a bug!
Oh, the black, ripe berries on any Mulberry might be a rarity.
It sounds like it is mostly a dioecious tree (female tree fruits but needs separate trees) but can sometimes be monoecious, Mulberries that is. Heres some info. on Red Mulberry--> http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/morus/rubra.htm
For sure tho flowerette, I'd rule out a Cottonwood. http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/p/popdel/popdel1.html Your photo doesn't resemble a Cottonwood seedling to me.
Will


This message was edited Jul 21, 2010 5:50 PM

Thank you all so much. Really appreciate the info. It came up not more than a foot from our garage. My DH decided it had to go. I'm sure it will pop up from the small stump. I won't poison it, though, and will attempt to dig it up in the fall and plant in the back area. Hey, I like anything green that grows and certainly am glad to learn that it is not a cottonwood. And, if it will feed the birds, I would love for them to have all the berries they can eat. I enjoy planting for all the wildlife. I will definitely check out your sites and know where to go when I need more expert advice. Thanks again.

Those darn wild Mulberry trees pop up everywhere here. If I don't catch them when they're small, I have to dig them out. They grow in flower beds, and against the foundation of the barn and the house. You can't just cut them down either, they grow back two fold. Their roots are enormous and deep, even the little ones are hard to get. They pop up along our fence row and interfere with the electric fence in the pasture. Afraid to use chemicals on them in there because the horse could get sick.

That's my rant for the day. I feel better now.

bump,

this is my fruitless mulberry, just ran out and took photos