166 THE EVOLUTION OP OUE NATIVE FRUITS 



introduced it to the public. It is probably the most 

 productive of all mulberries, even exceeding the wonder- 

 ful prolificacy of the Hicks. The fruit is deep black, 

 with a very rich, subacid, vinous flavor. It is fully 

 two inches long and over a quarter as thick in well- 

 developed specimens. 



The Lampasas variety was found in the woods in 

 Lampasas county, Texas, by F. M. Ramsey, and was 

 introduced in 1889 by T. V. Munson, of Denison, 

 Texas. It has a somewhat spreading and shrub -like 

 habit. Mr. Munson writes of it: "The Lampasas 

 mulberry, although a native of the region only 200 

 miles southwest of here, is so tender here as to winter- 

 kill. I have ceased to propagate it on that account. 

 I have never been able to fruit it." This variety is 

 interesting to the botanist because it belongs to the 

 pubescent -leaved type of the mulberry, to which 

 Rafinesque gave the name Morus tomentosa in his 

 monograph of North American mulberry trees, and 

 which Bureau, a more recent monographer, called 

 Morus rubra var. tomentosa. 



The Mexican mulberry (Morus ceUidifolia), which 

 reaches as far north as Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, 

 "in the countries south of the United States is fre- 

 quently planted as a fruit-tree," writes Sargent, in his 

 great "Silva," quoting from Kunth, "although the 

 fruit which it produces is inferior in size and flavor to 

 that of the red and black mulberry trees." This and 

 the common red mulberry are the only species native 

 to the United States. 



We must now enquire if the foreign types of mul- 

 berry trees, which were early introduced for the 

 feeding of silk worms, have given any fruit-bearing 



