The Mora (Maclura tinctoria), known internationally as Fustic or Dyer's Mulberry, has a history intertwined with global trade and textile arts. For centuries, the brilliant yellow heartwood of this tree was one of the most sought-after natural dyes in the world, shipped from Central and South America to Europe where it colored fabrics from peasant cloth to royal robes. Though synthetic dyes have largely replaced it, the Mora remains an important tree throughout the Neotropics, providing durable wood, food for wildlife, and a living connection to the pre-synthetic age when trees provided the colors that dressed the world.

Before synthetic chemistry transformed the world, the colors that adorned humanity came from nature—from plants, insects, minerals, and shells. The Mora was one of the great color-givers, its golden heartwood sailing across oceans in the holds of ships to color the textiles of Europe. Today, those trade routes are forgotten, the synthetic aniline dyes have conquered the market, and the Mora stands quietly in the forests and field edges of Central America, largely unaware of its illustrious past. But cut into a branch and the gold is still there—brilliant, unmistakable, a reminder that trees once dressed the world. For natural dyers keeping the old arts alive, for curious naturalists wanting to understand history, for anyone who has wondered where colors came from before chemistry, the Mora stands ready to share its gift. Its thorny branches guard that golden heart, but the color within has been freely given for centuries, painting the world in shades of sun.