282 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



worms. Perrottet brought it from Manilla to Senegal in 1821 t 

 and, some years afterwards, to Europe. It has been extensively 

 propagated in this country, and affords a great abundance of 

 more delicate leaves than those of any other mulberry ; and the 

 silk formed by worms feeding on them, is considered very ex- 

 cellent, perhaps superior to any other. 



The Paper Mulberry, Brousso?ietia papyrifera, so much re- 

 sembles a mulberry tree in its general appearance, that it has 

 until recently been included in that genus. It is a low, thick- 

 branched tree, with large, light colored, downy or hairy leaves, 

 and dark scarlet fruit. It is very hardy, grows rapidly, has 

 considerable beauty, and might be introduced as an ornamental 

 tree, but is of no value for its wood. It receives its specific 

 name from the fact that, in Japan and China, of which it is a 

 native, its bark is manufactured into paper. In the South Sea 

 Islands, where also it is found, the bark is made into the curi- 

 ous dresses which we sometimes see imported thence. 



The Osage Orange, Madura aurantlaca, is a native of the 

 banks of the Arkansas, and other regions west of the Missis- 

 sippi. Its name was given by Nultall in honor of William 

 Maclure, a liberal and distinguished patron of the Natural 

 Sciences in North America. It is a beautiful, low, spreading, 

 round-headed tree, with the port and splendor of an orange 

 tree. Its oval, entire, pointed leaves, have the polished, shining 

 green of natives of warmer regions, and its curiously tesselated, 

 succulent, compound fruit, the size and golden color of an or- 

 ange. 



The male and female flowers, which are green and incon- 

 spicuous, are found on different trees; and different kinds 

 must grow in immediate vicinity, in order that the fruit may be 

 fertile. In the neighborhood of Philadelphia, I saw, in the Au- 

 tumn of 1839, some fine specimens of this tree, several of 

 which were loaded with fruit. I have rarely seen an object in 

 the vegetable world more strikingly beautiful. 



It was first introduced into St. Louis from the country of the 

 Osage Indians, and thence received the name, which it well de- 

 serves, of Osage Orange. It has since been cultivated in many 



