Species
+

Morus rubra L.

American Mulberry, Bihi, Red mulberry (EN), idákxah

Climate known 111 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Morus rubra, commonly known as the red mulberry, is a species of mulberry native to eastern and central North America. It is found from Ontario, Minnesota, and Vermont south to southern Florida, and west as far as southeastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and central Texas. There have been reports of isolated populations in New Mexico, Idaho, and British Columbia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Morus rubra”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Moraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Ontario, Illinois, Iowa +31
Wild records
1884 in range· 817 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1170mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 114 mm (CHELSA)
Light
15–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1170 mm a year, wettest May at 114 mm, driest February at 80 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -9.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Morus argutidens Koidz.; Morus canadensis Poir.; Morus caroliniana Moretti; Morus missouriensis Audib.; Morus missouriensis Audib. ex Moretti and 19 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (824 mm of 1170 mm) takes 8 months, March to October. Mean temperature moves 21.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1170 mm a year, wettest May at 114 mm, driest February at 80 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1170 mm a year at the habitat, 824 mm of it March to October. Wettest month May at 114 mm, driest February at 80 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 929 mm to 1458 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -9.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -9.0 °C, the absolute minimum -24.7 °C, about 67 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells -6.0 °C to 7.2 °C), warmest day 31.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -9.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 10 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from 1 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1170 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1514 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -24.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost37.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)-24.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 15–40RH 56–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1514 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C10 / 2–1712 / 5–1917 / 9–2222 / 16–2626 / 21–2930 / 26–3231 / 28–3431 / 27–3427 / 23–3122 / 17–2716 / 11–2211 / 4–17
Night °C1 / -6–72 / -5–96 / -0–1210 / 6–1615 / 11–2020 / 17–2322 / 19–2521 / 19–2518 / 15–2212 / 9–177 / 3–132 / -3–8
Rain mm84 / 42–12780 / 48–137101 / 66–13595 / 70–121114 / 85–144113 / 98–164112 / 64–15798 / 58–16198 / 77–13393 / 75–12491 / 57–12491 / 48–137
DLI17 / 13–1921 / 19–2428 / 26–3035 / 33–3838 / 37–4040 / 39–4240 / 38–4336 / 34–4030 / 28–3324 / 21–2618 / 14–2115 / 11–18
RH %58 / 57–6057 / 56–6056 / 55–5856 / 54–5858 / 56–6059 / 57–6259 / 56–6359 / 55–6358 / 56–6157 / 56–5958 / 57–5959 / 57–61

Each figure is the median across the 1514 grid cells holding the 1771 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1103:1899 (34.825, -85.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -9.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1514 distinct grid cells holding the 1771 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1103:1899 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_-85.000, lapse-corrected -2 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 280 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeOntario, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia· introduced: Turkey-in-Europe, Turkey, New Mexico, Bermuda
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker34.053, -84.639 · in the densest population, 840 records (45% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1884 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 817 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 981 km away. 11 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 113 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1884 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Morus rubraMorus rubraMorus rubraMorus rubraMorus rubraMorus rubraMorus rubraMorus rubra

Photographs: (c) Rose Zappa, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Zihao Wang, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Morus rubra, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Phytochemical and antioxidant properties of anthocyanin-rich Morus nigra and Morus rubra fruits
Mustafa Özgen, Sedat Serçe, Cemal Kaya (2008) · Scientia Horticulturae
Determination of fruit chemical properties of Morus nigra L., Morus alba L. and Morus rubra L. by HPLC
Muttalip Gündoğdu, Ferhad Muradoğlu, Ruhan İlknur Gazioğlu Şensoy, Hilal Yılmaz (2011) · Scientia Horticulturae
Proximate Composition and Antioxidant Potential of Leaves from Three Varieties of Mulberry (Morus sp.): A Comparative Study
Shahid Iqbal, Umer Younas, Siraj Uddin, Kim Wei Chan (2012) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Co‐occurrence based assessment of habitat generalists and specialists: a new approach for the measurement of niche width
Jason D. Fridley, David B. Vandermast, Dane Mitchell Kuppinger, Michael Manthey (2007) · Journal of Ecology
Storage Media For Avulsed Teeth: A Literature Review
Wilson Roberto Poi, Celso Koogi Sonoda, Christine Men Martins, Moriel Evangelista Melo (2013) · Brazilian Dental Journal
Xylella fastidiosa: its biology, diagnosis, control and risks
Janse, JD, Aleksa Obradović (2010) · AgroSpace (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture)
Asymmetrical introgression between twoMorusspecies (M. alba,M. rubra) that differ in abundance
Kevin S. Burgess, Martin Morgan, L. L. DeVerno, Brian C. Husband (2005) · Molecular Ecology
First-Year Breakdown of Leaf Litter in Southern Appalachian Forests
Royal E. Shanks, Jerry S. Olson (1961) · Science
Identification and quantification of phenolic acids and flavonol glycosides in Tunisian Morus species by HPLC-DAD and HPLC–MS
Inès Thabti, Walid Elfalleh, Hédia Hannachi, Ali Ferchichi (2012) · Journal of Functional Foods
Mulberry: Life enhancer
R Venkatesh Kumar, Seema Chauhan (2008) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Morus 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 93 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.