Photo of Sayes Court Park
LocationSayes Court Park, Deptford
Variety Nigra
AccessPark
Site classHeritage, Veteran, Recumbent

Fenced-in recumbent, tentacular veteran tree. On the site of the garden of Sayes,Court, the home of late 17th c diaristJ ohn Evelyn,. He marked a mulberry with an x on a plan he drew of his garden (now in the British Library). We know from records and maps that this is not the same tree, as it is in a part of Sayes Court that was acquired later, to the west of the garden he laid out. DNA analysis by Oxford plant scientist, Barrie Juniper, suggests that it may be ?several generations? later, possibly planted by his descendant, William Evelyn. The genome of Morus nigra is very complex and may originally have been a hybrid of a white mulberry and species like Morus cathayana., The tree appears to be younger than one in nearby Charlton House, that was planted in the time of James I (1611). Dr Karen Liljenberg has researched the history of the tree and garden in some detail. Her research suggets that Evelyn had white mulberries, too.

Find out more at www.moruslondinium.org/research/john-evelyns-mulberry

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