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Mulberry refers both to the mulberry tree and to the fruit of that tree. It also refers to the closely related Paper Mulberry Broussonetia papyrifera.
The mulberry is a multiple fruit growing on small to medium-sized trees. The leaves are simple and often lobed, more often lobed on juvenile shoots than on the mature tree, and toothed on the margin.
The black-reddish fruit is edible and is widely used in some places. The fruit of the Black Mulberry, native to southwest Asia, and the Red Mulberry, native to eastern North America, have the best flavour. The fruit of the White Mulberry, an east Asian species which is extensively naturalized in urban regions of eastern North America, is insipid in flavour.
Mulberries, particularly the White Mulberry, are also economically important as the food source of the silkworm.