Cultivation
Cultivation of white mulberry for silkworms began over four thousand years ago in China. In 2002, 6,260 km2 of land were devoted to the species in China.
The species is now extensively planted and widely naturalized throughout the warm temperate world. It has been grown widely from India west through Afghanistan and Iran to southern Europe for over a thousand years for leaves to feed silkworms.
More recently, it has become widely naturalized in urban areas of eastern North America, where it hybridizes readily with a locally native red mulberry (Morus rubra). There is now serious concern for the long-term genetic viability of red mulberry because of extensive hybridization in some areas. As a result, it is listed as an invasive plant in parts of North America.
Read more about this topic: Morus Alba
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