FRUCTUS MORI. 54,5 



ployed for feeding the silkworm until about the year 1434, when 31 alb 



a 



species pi 



ms- 



ihe mulberry tree is now cultivated throughout Europe, yet, except- 

 ing m the regions named, by no means abundantly. It ripens its fruit 

 in JLngland, as well as in Southern Sweden and Gottland, and in 01 

 tiania (Schiibeler). 



History— The mulberry tree is mentioned in the Old Testament,' 

 and by most of the early Greek and Roman writers. Among the large 

 mimber of useful plants ordered by Charlemagne (a.d. 812) to be 

 cultivated on the imperial farms, the mulberry tree (Momriiis) did not 

 escape notice.' We meet with it also in a plan sketched a.d. 820, for 

 the gardens of the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland.* The cultiva- 

 tion of the mulberry in Spain is implied by a reference to the piepara- 

 tion of Sym2) of Midhemes in the Calendar of Cordova,' which dates 

 irom the year 961. 



A curious reference to mulberries, proving them to have been far 

 niore esteemed in ancient times than at present, occurs in the statutes 

 of the abbey of Corbie of Normandy, in which we find a Brevis de Melle, 

 showing how much Jioney the tenants of the monastic lands were 

 required to pay annually, followed by a statement of the quantity of 

 Mulberries which each farm was expected to supply." 



Description — The tree bears unisexual catkins; the female, of an 

 ovoid form, consists of numerous flowers with green four-lobed perianths 

 and two linear stigmas. The lobes of the perianth overlapping wvch 

 other become flesh}*, and by their lateral aggregation form the spurious 

 berry, which is shortly stalked, oblong, an inch in length, and, when 

 i;ipe, of an intense purple. By detaching a single fruit, the lobes of the 

 former perianth may be still discerned. Each fruit encloses a hard 

 lenticular nucule, covering a pendulous seed with curved embryo and 

 fleshy albumen. 



Mulberries are extremely juicy and have a refreshing, subacid, 

 saccharine taste; but they are devoid of the fine aroma that distin- 

 giiishes many fruits of the order RosacecB. 



Chemical Composition— In an analysis made by H. van Hees 

 (1857) 100 parts of mulberries yielded the following constituents: 



Glucose and uncrystallizable sugar . • • *^'l^ 

 Free acid (supposed to be malic) . • • • ^'^[j 



Albuminous matter 



0-39 



Pectic matter, fat, salts, and gum . • • * " ?2 

 Ash . .... . . • • ^'%i 



Insoluble matters (the seeds, pectose, cellulose, '^'^•) |':;;' 



Wat 



er 



84-71 



(I800) 856. '' ^ GaUen, facsimile, Zurich, 1M4. 



: 2 Sam. V. 23, 24. ' Le Caltndrkr dt Cordoue ''« < «»»^ 



r ' ^^"^z, Monumenta Germanicp hhtm-lca, public par R- Dozy, Leyde, 187 J. 07- 

 L?ges. lu. (1835) 181.-Consulfc also Hehn. « Gu^rard, Po/y/^f ig«e de FAbU Inamon. 



^uilurpjfunzen, 1877. Paris, 'i- ^3^- 



2M 



