MORACEJE. 



8ILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



77 



in 



many 



for its leaves, which are the best food of the silk-worm. Morns nigra^^ valued 



many temperate regions as a fruit-tree, is believed to have originated in Persia; in the temperate 



and semitropical mountainous regions of India two or three species are recognized;^ two 

 little known and doubtful species inhabit the mountains of the Indian Archipelago/ and 

 perhaps two others those of central and western South America.^ 



or three 

 one and 



Morns produces straight-grained durable handsome light brown or orange-colored wood sometimes 



The fruit of Morns is 

 )m it are used to flavor 



used for furniture, agricultural implements, and fencings and in boat-building, 

 sweet and acidulous, and possesses slightly laxative properties ; syrups made fr 

 or color medicines, or in the preparation of refrigerant beverages.^ 

 the fruit, from which a mild spirit is sometimes distilled.^ 



Vinegar is occasionally made from 



The North American species of Morns are not seriously injured by 



8 



by the ravages of 



fungal diseases 



9 



country (L. H. Bailey, Bull, HorL Div, Cornell Agric. Exper. StaU 

 No. 46, 232). 



Morus serraia (Roxburgh, FL Ind, ed. 2, iii. 596) is an inhabit- 

 ant of the northwestern Himalayas, where it sometimes ascends to 



From the leaves of Morus alba a yellow dye is obtained in the elevations of nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is a 



Caucasus, used in coloring wool and silk ; the Vine is tied with its tree sixty or seventy feet in height, with a stout trunk. It is culti- 



inner bark and staked with its branches ; and in Turkestan flour vated in Kunawar ; the wood is employed for agricultural imple- 



made from the fruit, which is both white and black, support the ments and many household articles, and the brauches are used for 



mountain tribes in winter (The Industries of Russia^ iii. 436, 462). 

 The wood of Morus alba is moderately hard, light yellow, brown, 



fodder (Brandis, L c). 



Morus Icevigata (Brandis, L c.) inhabits the evergreen forests of 



or yellow. In northern India it is employed in boat-building and the lower Himalayas from the valley of the Indus to Assam, and is 

 for furniture and agricultural implements. The tough branchlets occasionally cultivated. 



are used as cords, and the leaves are fed to sheep and goats (Bran- 



4 Miquel, FL JungJi. 42 ; FL Ned. Ind. i. pt. ii. 280 ; Suppl 



dis, Forest FL BriL India, 408) ; and in China the bark of the roots 414. — Bureau, L c. 247. 



is administered in the treatment of many human maladies (Smith, 

 Chinese MaL Med. 151). 



6 Bureau, L c. 246, 247. 



® Porcher, Resources of Southern Fields and Forests, 305. 



1 Loudon, Arb. Brit. iii. 1348. — Seringe, Descr. et Cult. Mur. Fliickiger & Hanbury, Phannacographia, 489. — Johnson, Man 



198. 



Bureau, De Candolle Prodr. xvii. 238. — Rein, Industries of Med. Bot. N. A. 244. — U. S. Dispens. ed. 16, 986. 



Japan^ 191. 



' The Industries of Russia, iii. 436. — Corcoran, Gard. Chron, 



2 Linn^us, Spec. 986 (1753). — Woodville, Med. BoL ii. 352, t. ser. 3, xv. 398. 



129. — Nouveau Duhamel, iv. 90, t. 22. — Watson, Dendr. Brit. ii. 



^ Few species of insects feed upon the American Mulberry-trees, 



169, t. 159. — Hayne, Arzn. xiii. t, 16. — Reichenbach, Icon. FL and even the silk- worms refuse to eat or thrive on Morus rubra 



Germ. xii. t. 1328. — Seringe, L c. 220, Atlas, t. 6, f . 4, t. 19. 



(Riley, Special Rep. Dept. Agric. No. 11, ed. 2, 34 ; Bull. No. 9, ed. 



Parlatore, FL Ital. iv. 362. — Bureau, I. c. — Boissier, FL Orient. 6, Div. Entomology U. S. Dept. Agric. 1886, 56). The Fall Web- 

 worm, Hyphantria cunea, Drury, is often abundant on Morus rubra^ 



iv. 1153. 



The Black Midberry is believed by A. De Candolle {Origine des and the larvse of other insects are occasionally sufficiently abundant 

 Plantes Cultivees, 121) to have originated in the country south of on the foliage to attract attention. No borers are recorded as 



the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea ; it was well known to the 

 Greeks, who introduced it into Europe, where it now sometimes 



affecting the living wood. 



® The fungal parasites of the Mulberry have been carefully 



grows spontaneously in the countries bordering the Mediterranean. studied in Italy, where this tree is of great economical importance. 



Before the greater value of the leaves of Morus albja for feeding In his classic work on the subject, Fungi Moricoloe, published in 



silk-worms was known to Europeans, they planted the Black Mul- Padua in 1889, Berlese has described all the species of fungi known 



berry for this purpose ; and in Greece it is still the more commonly to infest the Mulberry up to that date, and has given figures illus- 



nsed species (Heldreich, Nutz. Pflanzen, 19). The Black Mul- trating most of them. A considerable number of the species are 



berry, which is not hardy in the northern United States, is occa- known in this country, and some of them are peculiar to North 



sionally planted in the southern and Pacific states, although its America. The greater part, however, are species which grow on 



value as a fruit-tree is not appreciated in this country. The fruit the trunks, especially the dead trunks, and are not the cause of 



is larger than that of the other species of Morus, and possesses a special diseases, nor are they confined to species of Mulberry. A 



better flavor ; still occasionally used for desserts, it is now in most leaf-mildew, Uncinula geniculata, Gerard, has been observed on 



olesome food Morus rubra in New York, but not elsewhere, although it probably 



occurs in other places. Massaria epileuca, Berkeley & Ciirtis, 



countries 



also occurs on Morus 



for poultry or as an ingredient for cooling beverages. 



8 Of the Indian species of Morus, Morus Indica (Linnaeus L c), 



a shrub or small tree of the temperate and subtropical Himalayas, rubra, and is not known on other species. The leaves of Mulberries 



from Cashmere to Sikkim, is the Mulberry usually planted in Ben- are attacked by several spot diseases. Cercospora Moricola, Cooke, 



ffal, Burmah, and the Malay Peninsula, to supply food for the silk- is recorded on both Morus alba and Morus rubra. Phleospora 



worm (Brandis, L c. 409). By some authors it is considered a Mori, Saccardo, a fungus producing brownish spots on the leaves, 



Morus alba, while others still regard 



492) 



has been known to cause much trouble in Italy, and is occasionally 

 seen in this country. 



