Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_morus_alba
White Mulberry
Morus alba
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About White Mulberry
White Mulberry (Morus alba) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native to temperate and subtropical Asia and long cultivated for fruit and silkworm forage. Birds and other fruit consumers can disperse the small seeds in fleshy aggregate fruits. Bishop Museum and Smithsonian document naturalized Kauaʻi occurrence; forestry planting history is separate and does not quantify present extent.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 200 plants under Morus alb across 2 entries dated 1929. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Morus alba
- Common names
- White Mulberry
- Other names
- Morus alba · White mulberry
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Present island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects have not been quantified; no invasive severity is inferred from checklist or forestry status.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Unisexual flower clusters develop into many small drupes united as an aggregate fruit. Fruit consumers disperse seeds, and stems can root when deliberately propagated; the relative importance of these pathways on Kauaʻi is unknown.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- White Mulberry (Morus alba) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native to temperate and subtropical Asia and long cultivated for fruit and silkworm forage. Birds and other fruit consumers can disperse the small seeds in fleshy aggregate fruits. Bishop Museum and Smithsonian document naturalized Kauaʻi occurrence; forestry planting history is separate and does not quantify present extent.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30051955-2
- https://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200006379
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043
- https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/47617.pdf