Young leaves are edible cooked - chewy - and in the right climate it produces orange pom-pom-like fruit. What I discovered was that while it might be an invasive species it is far from a “trash tree.” Know as the Paper Mulberry, the Broussonetia papyrifera (brew-soh-NEE-she-uh pap-ih-RIFF-er-uh) has been used for thousands of years to make paper and cloth. Indeed, it was a lone young tree near a bike trail that got me on the track of solving the identity of my mystery tree. In hindsight, compounding the issue is that a young tree’s leaves look very different than a mature tree’s leaves. I presumed it could either fruit or reproduce by cuttings and the like. While it did form colonies I also saw an isolated tree now and then. I watched it for several years but it never seemed to fruit. It was certainly prolific, growing in hursts everywhere, often in low spots or gullies and ditches. It resembled a basswood tree but wasn’t one. Over the years I wondered about its identity. When I first asked about this species I was told by a knowledgeable botanist that it was a trash tree though at the time he did not know what species it was. The other thing you will hear is that a particular species is a “trash tree.” If you are a forager, you will be told two things constantly: One is that the plant of your admiration is “poisonous.” Sometimes they are, often they are not. Photo by Green Deane Broussonetia papyrifera: Paper Chase The orange pom-pom fruit of the Paper Mulberry.
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