Morus alba, 

 THE WHITE-FRUITED MULBERRY-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



Morus alba, 



Murier blanc, Murier du ver-a-soie, 

 AVeisser IMaulbeerbaum, 



LiNNJEUS, Hortus Cliffortianus. 

 WiLLDENOw, Linnaci Species Plantarum, 

 Loudon, Arboretum Briianuicum. 

 France. 

 Germany. 



Gelso, Gelso moro, Moro bianco, More ) j^^^y 

 gelso, j 



Morera, 



White Mulberry-tree, 



Spain. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



Derivation. The specific name cdba is derived from the Latin albus, white ; in reference to the colour of the fruit of t(u 

 pedes. 

 Engravings. Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, iii., fig. 1223, and vii., pi. 225 et 226 ; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves with a deep scallop at the base, and either heart-shaped or ovate, undivided 

 or lobed, serrated with unequal teeth, glossy, or, at least, smoothish ; the projecting portions on the two 

 sides of the basal sinus unequal. WUldenorv, Linnai Spec. Plant. 



Descripiion. 



'^y\/\ 



!HE Moms alba is a deciduous tree, 



f^ 'nP 1^ sometimes growing to a height of 



^ LI (^ thirty or forty feet, with a trunk 



_ ^^^ from ten to twenty inches in diam- 

 eter. It is readily distinguished from the black mulberry, 

 even in winter, by its more numerous, slender, upright- 

 growing, and white-barked shoots. It is a tree of much 

 more rapid growth than that species, and its leaves are not 

 only less rough and more succulent, but they contain more 

 of the glutinous, milky substance, resembling caoutchouc, 

 which gives tenacity to the silk produced by the worms that feed on them. 

 They are generally cordate and entire, but sometimes lobed, and always deeply 

 serrated. The flowers, which put forth in May, are generally succeeded by an 

 abundance of white fruit, but in some varieties, it is ash-coloured, purple, and 

 even black. 



Varieties. The Morus alba, like the apple, the pear, and the peach, when 

 propagated from seeds, is liable to sport, and produce varieties ditrering, in many 

 cases, more from one another than they do from other species. These variations 

 are very numerous ; but many of the sorts enumerated in catalogues, in dillerent 

 countries, perhaps are only dissimilar in name. The following, however, are 

 some of those most generally cultivated for their leaves, in Europe and America, 

 as affording food for the silkworm: 



1. M. A. MACKOPHYi.LA, Loiidoti. Lari^c-lcaved Whitc-fniilcd Mulbvrnj : Murier 

 a grandes feuiUes, Murier d' JJ.y)ag7ie, FeJiiUe d'E.yjogne, of the French: Gross- 

 blattriger Maulbecrbdion, of the Germans. This variety jirodnces strong and 

 vigorous shoots, with laro;e leaves, soin('tim(\s incasiiriiig eiglit inches long, and 

 six inches broad, resembling in form tho.se of tlu' .Morns nigra, but are smooth, 

 glossy, and succulent. The fruit is white. If grown in rich soil, this sort, 



