The original colonist
had a plan to grow silkworms due to the abundance of red mulberries, Morus
rubra L., but this failed along with later attempts that resulted in the
introduction of invasive exotic species including white mulberry, M. alba L.,
black mulberry, M. nigra L., paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) L'Her. ex Vent., and
silktree, Albizia julibrissin Durazz., which is often called mimosa. The leaves of the genus Morus L. have palmate venation, ooze milky
sap if pinched off the tree, and vary in shape similar to Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees where they can be unlobed, lobed on just one
side like a mitten, or lobed on both sides.
The trees are dioecous, therefore, both a male and female tree is necessary to produce fruit, which is found only on the female trees. The edible fruit gets ripe in June and resembles a blackberry, Rubus L., although blackberry is aggregate fruit from one flower while mulberry is a multiple fruit coming from several flowers clustered together. Many birds and even squirrels are attracted to the trees when the fruit is ripe, which can get rather messy. The worst example I’ve heard about was a complaint letter to a nursery that sold a black mulberry that first attracted a rare bird, and then a flock of birdwatchers that trampled the homeowners landscape. Some states have an open squirrel hunting season in June just because of mulberries.
Mulberry wood is reported to be very durable, thus it is one of the best for fence post with hyperbolic claims of it being able to outlast two or three post holes. There are currently not enough mulberries in this area to be useful for fence post due to so many of them having died, or at least died back after some sort of disease and/or scale like insect attacks them, and insect sucks so much sap that the effect is the same as if the tree or branches are girdled. The trees that survive apparently, have some resistance and are starting to repopulate with more resistant seedlings.
The black mulberry is called a sycamine in the Bible. One notable reference is Luke 17:6 where faith of the size of a mustard seed is enough to result in a sycamine being uprooted and moved into the sea.