Shahtoot / White Mulberry
Morus alba
Also known as Mulberry
- Habit
- Shrub
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Shahtoot
Identify Shahtoot by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a shrub habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Sweet edible white-pink berries (mulberry).
- Confirm leaf shape: Orbicular.
- Confirm leaf margin: Lobed.
- Confirm flower arrangement: Catkin.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and nearby regions.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Morus alba
- Genus
- Morus
- Family
- Moraceae
- Habit
- Shrub
- Habitat
- Cultivated
- Habitat type
- Cultivated
- Native to
- China
- Distribution
- India, Afghanistan and North West Asia
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Punjab, Assam, Kerala, Karnataka, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Puducherry, Tripura
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- OrbicularrecordedRounded, roughly circular.“On young, vigorous shoots, the leaves may be up to 30 cm (12 in) long, and deeply and intricately lobed, with the lobes rounded.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leaf margin
- LobedrecordedThe edge is divided into rounded or pointed sections that don't reach the midrib.“On young, vigorous shoots, the leaves may be up to 30 cm (12 in) long, and deeply and intricately lobed, with the lobes rounded.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leaf surface
- Glabrous (smooth, hairless)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Shahtoot itself; the rest are typical of the Moraceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower arrangement
- CatkinrecordedA slim, often dangling spike of tiny, usually wind-pollinated flowers.“The flowers are single-sex catkins;” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Catkin
- Fruit
- Drupe
Characters marked “recorded” are for Shahtoot itself; the rest are typical of the Moraceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- शहतूत Shahtoot,शहतूत shahatut
- Nepali
- किम्बु Kumbu
- Bengali
- সাদা তুঁত
- Kannada
- ಹಹಿಪ್ಪುನೇರಳೆ Hippu nerale, ಕಂಬಳಿಗಿಡ Kambali gida, ಹಿಪ್ಪಲನೇರಳೆ Hippala nerale
About Shahtoot
White Mulberry (Morus alba) belongs to the Moraceae family, where it grows as a shrub. In India it has been recorded in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and 13 other states. It is cultivated. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Uses
Locally it is grown for parts that are eaten, long used in traditional medicine and cut for timber and furniture. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Moraceae
Fig/Mulberry family
Shahtoot belongs to the Moraceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
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