Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Mulberry-weed - Fatoua villosa   (Thunberg) Nakai
Members of Moraceae:
Only member of Fatoua in NC.
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Section 6 » Order Urticales » Family Moraceae
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Author(Thunberg) Nakai
DistributionScattered across the state. First collected in NC in Charlotte in 1973 by Jim Matthews. More populations will be found in the future if botanists check nurseries and flower gardens.

Native of Asia; in N.A. MD to IN and OK, south to FL and TX. First N.A. collection 1964 in LA.
AbundanceRare to uncommon. Certainly more numerous than current records indicate. Most NC populations were found since 1990.
HabitatDiscarded flower pots, nurseries, flower gardens, gravel of hospital tramway (Durham Co.), mini golf course (Brunswick Co.), interstate rest area plantings (Iredell Co.), depression in recently burned cypress-gum swamp (Ft. Bragg, Hoke Co., 1993), weedy gravel parking lot (White Pines Preserve, Chatham Co.).
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-November.
IdentificationThis is an herb up to about 2 feet tall, with well-spaced, alternate, ovate, long-stalked leaves. Leaves taper to a point, have crenate-dentate margins, and surfaces are appressed-hairy. Flowers and fruits are produced in roundish clusters in leaf axils. Not likely to be confused with other NC plants owing to the rounded clusters in leaf axils; however, without flowers or fruits it looks like many other species.
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)Hairy Crabweed
State RankSE
Global RankGNR
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcpFACU link
USACE-empFAC link
County Map - click on a county to view source of record.
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B.A. SorrieWhite Pines Preserve, weedy gravel parking lot, 22 Sept 2024. ChathamPhoto_non_natural
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