Cudrania, 'Darrow' and 'Norris' female COMBO tree

  Cudrania tricuspidata 'Darrow' and 'Norris' Name in Chinese and pin yin: 柘 zhe Variety description: This under appreciated fruit is a relative of mulberry and fig, and is native to central China. In addition to being grown for its fruit, traditionally Che leaves were used as a secondary food source for silk worms. Self-fertile seedless female trees bear a prolific crop of maroon-red, 1-2" fruit. Ripe fruit have a sweet flavor which is often compared to that of a fig with notes of watermelon. We graft our Che onto Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) rootstock so that as the plant matures it will develop less of a bush and more of a standard tree form. Young plants have small thorns. These trees are budded with two female cultivars 'Darrow' and 'Norris' which will produce seedless fruit in the absence of a male pollinator.  'Darrow' che is propagated from a tree grown by the famed USDA plant breeder Dr. George M. Darrow (pictured left). Over the course of his long career with the USDA,