writes:

On Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 10:02:01 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:

[ ... ]

For a glorious week or so very soon, we should have mulberry trees full
of berries, which are my favorite "found" snack while cycling.

I don't know how common these are in other areas. I once came across a
thicket of them in Iowa, but nowhere else I remember. I've been told
they are more common here because some of our many Italian immigrants
loved them.

An alternative theory is that they're descendants of a mulberry craze in
Connecticut in the early 1800s. Our area was, pre-1776, part of
Connecticut, according to Connecticut's charter. (That was disputed by
Virginia.) The "Connecticut Western Reserve" was retained by that state
for a while when the Northwest Ordinance made Ohio a possibility. So
this area was first settled by folks from Connecticut.

Mulberries are tasty, sweet and very messy. About this time of year I'll
return home from a ride with dark blue stains on my gloves and cycling
shoes.

Most immigrants brought all sorts of plants of what they considered
food plants and trees. Near where I live is an area called Cherryland
which used to be acres and acres of farmed cherries which is from Asia
via the Greeks moving to the USA. My area used to be thick with Fennel
brought by Italian immigrants. For reasons unknown to sane people,
they replaced the chopped down coastal redwoods with Eucalyptus from
Australia. These are a pox upon the Earth and are the largest fire
hazards in the area.

Eucalyptus is pretty simple -- it grows much faster than redwood. They
are a huge fire hazard.

Other introduced species rarely thought of: honeybees are an old world
import, and earthworms were apparently missing from much of post-glacial
North America; they have been spread by agriculture to almost everywhere
they might grow by now.

Olive trees brought here from Spain and then Italy and
Croatia. Sunflowers and beets from France. Beets used for sugar began
in California in 1830.

Most of the native American food plants have disappeared and
biodiversity across the globe has disappeared.

Many have been spread all over the world: corn, tomatoes, potatoes, hot
peppers, chocolate ... Not so many from the current US, but
Jerusalem artichokes for one.