Small tree or large shrub to 6 m (20 ft) tall and 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. Bark light gray and smooth, becoming divided into narrow scaly ridges. Twigs thin, light brown, soon becoming glabrous. Buds small, pointed, brown. Sap milky. Leaves alternate, variable in shape and degree of lobing, sometimes unlobed but often 3-lobed, coarsely serrate, 2.5-6 cm (1-2.4 in) long and 2-3 cm (0.8-1.2 in) wide, dark green and rough above, pale green and hairy below. Flowers staminate and pistillate on different trees, small, green, crowded in clusters about 10 mm (0.4 in) long in early Spring. Fruits small, 1-seeded, numerous, crowded into clusters about 10 mm long, red to purple when ripe in late Spring.
Distribution: Native to western Texas, southern Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Habitat: Mostly along streams in semiarid regions.
NWI status: UPL
Comment: Morus is the old Latin name; microphylla refers to the small leaves.
Distribution in Oklahoma: 
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Last update: 9/14/99
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