Mulberry picture from Jared, South Carolina,

Found four of them growing wild near the marsh behind the house I’m renting. Pretty good soil over here, tons of grass grows on it and these little vining plants with tiny blue flowers. In any case, a friend of mine told me that these three foot tall plants will produce berries or fruit next year if I don’t mess with them. What do you think? Edible berries?

 

Hi Jared,  what you have in the image there is a sapling of a mulberry tree, Morus.  It is most likely white mulberry, Morus alba, an introduced species.  The native species is similar, the red mulberry, Morus rubra, but the underside of the leaf is hairy with short hairs, sometimes even whitened.  White mulberry usually has only a few or no hairs on the leaf underside.

I’m not sure what you are calling tiny blue flowers – I do not see any in your picture – and a sapling that size would not have flowers.  When it does flower, as a tree, the flowers are a sort of cream-green followed by fruits that are edible and sweet when fully ripe.  I understand that unripe fruits will make one sick.  If you have a viny plant with tiny blue flowers, as you described but which is not in the picture, send an image along.

Sincerely,  Steve Hill, Botanist SCNPS

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