Genus BROUSSONETIA, L'llcrit. 



Urticacenc. Dioccia Tclramlria. 



ayst. Xat. Syal. Lin. 



Synonynies. 



Broussonctia, Monts, Papyrus, Of Authors. 



Derivation. The ?enu3 Broitssonelia was so named in honour of J\I. P. N. V. Broussonet, a French naturalial, who wmta 

 numerous works on natural history. 



Generic Characters. Flowers unisexual; those of the two sexes upon distinct plants. Male flowers in 

 pendulous cylindrical catkins ; each flower in the axil of the bractea. Calyx shortly tubular, then 4- 

 parted. Stamens 4, elastic. Female flowers in peduncled, axillary, upright, globular heads. Calyx 

 tubular, its tip with 3 4 teeth. Ovary within an integument that arises from the bottom of the calyx. 

 Style lateral, prominent. Fruit club-shaped, proceeding from the bottom of the calyx, and extended 

 much beyond its tip ; and consisting of the integument in which the ovary was enclosed, and now 

 becomes very juicy ; and of a 1-seeded oval utricle, with a crustaceous integument, and enclosed 

 within this juicy integument. Du Hamel, Traite de Arbres. 



I HE genus Broussonetia was constituted by L'Heritier from the 

 Mori/s papyrifej-a^ and is said to comprise but one species, native 

 ^(T^ of Japan, and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean. It consists of a 

 '^r>L vigorous-growing shrub or low tree, with large-lobed, hairy leaves, 

 variously shaped, and differing so much from each other on the 

 male and female plants, that they might be easily taken for dis- 

 imct species. 



-To the same natural order belong the fustic-trees of the tropics, which are 

 more nearly allied to this genus than to morus. They differ from the true mulber- 

 ries by having the female catkins globular, the flowers distinct, calyx scariose. 

 4-parted ; the sepals unequally obovate, obtuse, the ovary obovate-compressed ; 

 the style single, terminal, smooth, filiform, and flexuose ; and the fruit a globu- 

 lar, compound berry or syncarpe; whereas the true mori have double styles and 

 stigmas, and oblong fruits. There are several kinds of fustic-trees, which 

 might be formed into a peculiar group, from their baccate seeds. The true fustic 

 of dyers, (Morus tinctoria,) is a large tree, sixty feet in height, bearing sweet, 

 edible fruit, about the size of a nutmeg, and is a native of Central America, Yuca- 

 tan, Cuba, Jamaica, &c. The whole plant abounds in a slightly glutinous milk, 

 of a sulphureous colour. The wood is yellow, and is much used in dyeing, for 

 which purpose it is chiefly imported into Europe and the United States, under 

 the name oi fustic-icood. There is a variety of this species, called Bastard Fustic^ 

 a tree smaller in stature, and less valuable as a dye, and is found from Yucatan 

 to the southern parts of Florida and the Bahama Islands. 



