Morus, a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions.

[1][2][3][4] Generally, the genus has 64 subordinate taxa,[5] though the three most common are referred to as white, red, and black, originating from the color of their dormant buds and not necessarily the fruit color (Morus alba, M. rubra, and M. nigra, respectively), with numerous cultivars and some taxa currently unchecked and awaiting taxonomic scrutiny.

[6] The fruit turns from pink to red while ripening, then dark purple or black, and has a sweet flavor when fully ripe.

[citation needed] The following species are accepted:[10] Black, red, and white mulberries are widespread in Southern Europe, the Middle East, Northern Africa, and the Indian subcontinent, where the tree and the fruit have names under regional dialects.

Mulberries are also widespread in Greece, particularly in the Peloponnese, which in the Middle Ages was known as Morea, deriving from the Greek word for the tree (μουριά, mouria).

The mulberry plants allowed to grow tall have a crown height of 1.5 to 1.8 m (5 to 6 ft) from ground level and a stem girth of 10–13 cm (4–5 in).

The plants are usually pruned once a year during the monsoon season to a height of 1.5–1.8 m (5–6 ft) and allowed to grow with a maximum of 8–10 shoots at the crown.

The tree branches pruned during the fall season (after the leaves have fallen) are cut and are used to make durable baskets supporting agriculture and animal husbandry.

[citation needed] As the fruit matures, mulberries change in texture and color, becoming succulent, plump, and juicy, resembling a blackberry.

[6] The fruit of the East Asian white mulberry – a species extensively naturalized in urban regions of eastern North America – has a different flavor, sometimes characterized as refreshing and a little tart, with a bit of gumminess to it and a hint of vanilla.

[31] The Ancient Greeks and Romans cultivated the mulberry for silkworms; at least as early as 220 AD, Emperor Elagabalus wore a silk robe.

[33] Anthocyanins are responsible for the attractive colors of fresh plant foods, including orange, red, purple, black, and blue.

[2] Scientists found that, of 31 Chinese mulberry cultivars tested, the total anthocyanin yield varied from 148 to 2725 mg/L of fruit juice.

[citation needed] According to 1 Maccabees, the Seleucids used the "blood of grapes and mulberries" to provoke their war elephants in preparation for battle against Jewish rebels.

[39][40] A Babylonian etiological myth, which Ovid incorporated in his Metamorphoses, attributes the reddish-purple color of the mulberry fruits to the tragic deaths of the lovers Pyramus and Thisbe.

Meeting under a mulberry tree (probably the native Morus nigra),[41] Thisbe commits suicide by sword after Pyramus does the same, he having believed, on finding her bloodstained cloak, that she was killed by a lion.

Their splashed blood stained the previously white fruit, and the gods forever changed the mulberry's colour to honour their forbidden love.