Reference: Mulberry Trees

These trees have on philological grounds been supposed to be a variety of balsam, and on grounds of appropriateness to the story (2Sa 5:23 f.) to be poplars, whose leaves readily quiver with the slightest breath of air. Their identity is, however, quite uncertain. Mulberries they cannot be; for though plentiful to-day in Palestine, and still more so in the Lebanon, these trees were introduced to the land later than OT times. See, however, Sycamine.

E. W. G. Masterman.