Genus 3IORUS, Touni. 



Urticaceae. MoncEcia Totmnilria. 



iy'yat. SaC. Hynt. Lin. 



Si/nonymes. 



Morus, . Of Authors. 



Murier, France. 



IMauUicerbaum, Germany. 



Moro, Italy. 



Moral, Spain. 



Ainoreira, Portugal. 



Mulberry-tree, Britain and Anglo-America. 



Derivations. Several derivations have l)een given of the word Moms. Some suppose it to be taken from the Greek morea, 

 or moron, signifying a nuilberry or blackberry ; but others derive it from the Greek mauros, dark, or more jemoiely from ih* 

 Celtic mor, which signifies black ; from the dark colour of the fruit of the black mulberry, supposed originally to have grown in 

 Persia. 



Generic Characters. Flowers unisexual ; those of the two sexes, in most species, upon the same plant. 

 Male flowers disposed in a drooping, peduncled, axillary spike. Cal3'X of 4 equal sepals, imbricatfe in 

 aestivation, expanded in flowering. Stamens 4, with a rudiment of a, pistil. Female flowers in ovate, 

 erect spikes. Calyx of 4 leaves, in opposite pairs, the outer pair the larger, all upright aud persistent, 

 becoming pulpy and juicy. Ovary of 2 cells, one including a pendulous ovule, the other devoid of any. 

 Stigmas 2, long. In the state of maturity, each ovary is a fleshy and juicy utricle, and is covered by 

 the fleshy and juicy calyx. Nees Von Esenbeck, Genera. 



.HE genus Morus embraces deciduous trees, natives of Europe, 

 Asia, and of America, remarkable for their large leaves, which 

 are mostly lobed, and which, in a state of cultivation, are liable to 

 a great variation in point of magnitude, form, and texture. They 

 are all easily propagated from seeds, by cuttings, and layers, and by 

 truncheons. All the species will serve to nourish the silkworm; 

 but the white mulberry, (Morus alba.) and its varieties, are considered much the 

 best. In warm climates, such as Persia, the leaves of the black mulberry, (Morus 

 nigra,) are sufficiently succulent for the purpose; but in colder countries they do 

 not answer equally well. The leaves of the red mulberry. (Morus rubra.) are 

 thick, rough, and hairy, even while they are young, and are also improper for 

 the food of silkworms, which feed with advantage only on foliage that is thin, 

 tender, and succulent. Various attempts have been made to discover some sub- 

 stitute for the natural food of these insects, which may be readily procured at all 

 seasons, and in sufficient abundance to render the silk culturist independent of 

 the chances that attend the growth of the mulberry-tree. It is probable that the 

 leaves of most plants which contain a milky juice, will, if they are appropriate 

 in point of texture, afford nourishment to the silkworm, from the common prop- 

 erty of their juice containing caoutchouc; but, notwithstanding the partial suc- 

 cess so frequently proclaimed, as the substitution of the tender leaves of the fig, 

 the maclura, the slippery-elm, and the Norway and Tartarian maples, among 

 trees; and those of the lettuce, endive, beet, spinach, nettle, viper-grass, (Scor- 

 zonera hispanica,) &c., among herbaceous plants, all practical cultivators of silk 

 are convinced that it would be unprofitable to feed their worms on anything 

 save their natural nourishment. None of these substitutes are of any real use, 

 unless we except the maclura, the viper-grass, and the lettuce. 



