My friend doesn’t have a knack for labeling. I asked him what cultivar this is and he said ‘I don’t know… something like Douglasson.’ 
Well I found a Wellington listed but google images are lacking form photos. The fruit looks to be a good enough match on google images.
Thank ya,
Dax
I guess nobody is brave (or stupid) enough to touch this post. Well, I’m not brave but I certainly qualify for “stupid”. But the reality of your unidentified cultivar is that it is similar enough in appearance to a dozen or more cultivars. If your friend is correct with something that sounds like “Douglasson”, it is perhaps a locally named variety (perhaps came from Douglasson’s back yard), because as far as I am aware, it is not sold on any online nursery.
I called two nurseries that sell fruit trees near Davenport; Shademaster Nursery didn’t sell mulberry and Red Fern Farm only had ‘Illinois Everbearing’.
It doesn’t appear to be pure Morus alba or Morus rubra, so my guess is that it is a hybrid of alba and rubra.
Sorry…that is the best I can do.
That’s awesome that you called Davenport. Thank you!
Well, I’ll tread slowly and simply enjoy the fruit for now.
Thanks,
Dax
[quote=“Barkslip, post:1, topic:11589”]
Well I found a Wellington listed but google images are lacking form photos. The fruit looks to be a good enough match on google images.
[/quote]Does he at least remember where he got it from? I was told that flavor can vary a lot from variety to variety of Mulberry, also does it need another tree to pollinate? Is there another mulberry tree close enough for the wind to pollinate them? If it’s a black mulberry like you appear to be saying, well most black mulberries can not survive your climate they are zone 7 + so if it survives your climate then that narrows it down.
Wellington is Zone 5-9 and they are self fertile.
‘Wellington’ is a Morus nigra type of Mulberry (Black mulberry), there is a variety called ‘Illinois Everbearing’ Hardiness is zone 3 to 9, even though berries are black it’s a part of the ‘white mulberry’ Species, berries very in length, here is a photo of ‘Illinois Everbearing’ berries.
Wellington sounds right to him. He said he got scions at a IL Growers Meeting. When we were at the lake he said it sounds like something-“ton” at the end. Douglasston or Magnusson “son” or “ton.”
Thank you so much, Alan.
Dax
Wellington is Morus alba. It originated in Geneva, NY, while M. nigra is not hardy beyond Zone 8.
Update. I see that there is a rare English variety also called ‘Wellington’ which is M. nigra. However, the U.S. variety of the same name is completely different and is M. alba. The one grown in Illinois is obviously the American one and is M. alba.
Most places online call ‘Wellington’ a Morus nigra variety. I am sure that nigra ranges in hardness just like alba does, most nigra are cold hardy down to at least zone 7.
Well there is Russian Mulberry too, yet that is a very easy name to remember. A very basic name.
If you look at the US sites, they don’t. For example:
https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/mulberry.html
Wellington
Originated in Geneva, N.Y. Reddish-black medium-sized fruit, 1-1/4 inches long, 3/8 inch in diameter. Form long, slender and cylindrical. Flesh soft, of good flavor.
Mulberry (Morus alba) Wellington Mulberry
Old time cultivar selected for hardiness and fruit quality; black medium sized berries.
On the other hand, the UK site https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/mulberry-trees/wellington mentions a variety of the same name which is a M. nigra with a completely different description.[quote=“alanmercieca, post:8, topic:11589”]
I am sure that nigra ranges in hardness just like alba does
[/quote]
No, it does not. M. nigra has no hardiness at all. Generally, it does not survive beyond Zone 8 and even there not in all locations. In Zone 7 it can survive in some special microclimates, but it’s rare.
Well we were talking there are mulberries from other world locations, too. He said that Wellington does indeed sound correct.
I got lucky first time around.
Best regards-
Continue on, gentlemen…
Dax
Check this description for the one in UK out, and says that it’s Morus nigra Morus Wellington - Mulberry Tree | Mail Order Trees
That’s what I’m telling you. There are two different cultivars with the same name. One in the UK is M. nigra and the other in the US is M. alba. The same name, completely different varieties. England is zones 8 and 9. New York and Illinois are zones 5 and 6, no M. nigra ever survives even one winter there (if grown in the open of course). Dax is in Illinois, there is no chance in the world that his tree is M. nigra.
What I am saying is that the uk website is saying there is no difference.
Dave’s garden says that it’s Nigra too http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/80751/
Yet I have seen a website list Wellington in a list of hybrids
That site obviously confuses between the two (which is not surprising since they have the same name). No M. nigra can grow in New York or Illinois in the open, it’s just a scientific fact.
Here towards the bottom it’s listed as a hybrid, I am guessing that the fruit is more like Morus nigra and the tree more like Morus alba, a lot of trees of many kinds are natural hybrids of two Species yet only get classified as one, yet people often care more about what the fruit is like than the tree https://www.growingmulberry.org/selection?lightbox=dataItem-itiwxytb
This page never says that Wellington is a hybrid of M. nigra, it’s likely a hybrid of M. alba and M. rubra (as most Morus hybrids are). There is no variety that’s a proven hybrid of M. nigra, and many actually believe that hybrids of M. nigra with other Morus species are biologically impossible, because it has so many chromosomes. If you noticed this page says: “considering the ease at which the various species (except nigra) can cross (form hybrids)”.
I do have Wellington and it is a hybrid of alba x rubra. At least thats what most people think it is. It definately is not a nigra. I think there is no other true nigra cultivar called Wellington. lt probably is a mixup, plain and simple. Sadly nursery descriptions over here in europe are very often wrong when selling “black mulberry”. I bought 5 morus nigra from different online sources. All of them were labeled wrong, none was a nigra. I live in zone 7 and now got my nigras. I will give them a try.
Wellington didn’t fruit for me yet. It fruit is said to resemble that of illinois everbearing.
Wellington is a not Nigra, at least not the Wellington commonly available in the U.S. I don’t know if there is another cultivar that goes by that name, or just another incorrect listing of the same, which appears to be the case in at least the 1 UK link as it lists Geneva, NY as the origin. Dax’s picture of the Tree is certainly not Nigra in appearance.
there might be a wellington namesake of true nigra, but the picture posted on that website is not a nigra.
the stem is too thin to be bearing berries(for a true nigra) and the petioles are likewise thin and long relative to the leaf size.
