I had previously assumed these trees to be gigantic and unhappy hibiscusses. I was wrong. I've been watering them for about a month now, and they've bloomed, although the flowers are unlike any others I've ever seen. I'm left with the lingering suspicion that they are some type of Mulberry (Morus spp, possibly nigra or rubra?) Some of these trees were just sticks when I started; now they've got hibiscus-style leaves (heart-shaped, highly serrate.) The bark is pale beige with white spots. Can anybody confirm this, or am I right off my rocker? Will I have to wait for mature berries to determine the species? Thanks!
I found one with more fully developed leaves; perhaps this will help you, Micheal. There's also one of the bark. Thanks in advance!
I'd guess from the glossy leaves, Morus alba (White Mulberry), which is also the most widely cultivated mulberry worldwide. But the leaves don't look quite the normal shape for Morus alba so I have a bit of doubt over that.
UPDATE! The berries have started to ripen and are proving to me daily and definitively that the trees are Morus nigra. Yummers. Also, is M. alba not a very fragile tree? These things are machete-resistant.
M. nigra is comparatively rare and has dull, hairy leaves unlike those shown. Unless those of your plants become dull and hairy when fully developed they are another, such as M. alba. Black fruits are also produced by M. alba, not peculiar to M. nigra. A hybrid, 'Illinois Everbearing' is also rather often grown (in North America, anyway).
Not fragile at all! You can hack it up any amount and it'll re-grow with huge vigour. Widely grown as a fodder crop for goats and cattle in SE Europe and SW Asia.
M. nigra looks more like a fig tree in general aspect than the other prominent species, with sparse, stout, erect shoots rather than the numerous spreading, whippy ones of M. alba. It may, in fact be of garden origin rather than a wild species - much more "tame" in character than the weedy (North America), reseeding M. alba.
Then I'd say I have M. nigra. It stopped looking like a mulberry (except, of course, for the berries) and started looking like a fuzzy fig once the leaves developed fully. The trees are definitely not spreading and whippy.
I wouldn't. High level of gloss and prominent venation shown does not fit that one at all. Does look quite like the new leaves of M. alba 'Unryu', rather often sold as a contorted form here but not seeming especially so based on specimens I have observed. Also represented as small-growing, yet ones I have watched (including one planted here in Island County, WA, about 60 ft. from where I am typing) are quite vigorous. Leaves of this one also seem to have a tendency to be larger than those of weeping (and other) forms seen here, although I have not done a survey using measured samples.
