Genus MORUS, Tourn. 
Urticaceae. Moncecia Tetrandria. 
Syst. Nat. Syst. Lin. 
Synonymes. 
Morns, Of Authors. 
Murier, France. 
Maulbeerbaum, Germany. 
Moro, Italy. 
Moral, Spain. 
Amoreira, Portugal. 
Mulberry-tree, Britain and Anolo- America. 
Derivations. Several derivations have been given of the word Morus. Some suppose it to be taken from the Greek morea, 
or moron, signifying a mulberry or blackberry; but others derive it from the Greek mauros, dark, or morejemotely from th* 
Celtic mor, which signifies black ; from the dark colour of the fruit of the black mulberry, supposed originally to have grown in 
Persia. 
Generic Characters. Flowers unisexual ; those of the two sexes, in most species, upon the same plant. 
Male flowers disposed in a drooping, peduncled, axillary spike. Calyx of 4 equal sepals, imbricate in 
asstivation, expanded in flowering. Stamens 4, with a rudiment of a pistil. Female flowers in ovate, 
erect spikes. Calyx of 4 leaves, in opposite pairs, the outer pair the larger, all upright and persistent, 
becoming pulpy and juicy. Ovary of 2 cells, one including a pendulous ovule, the other devoid of any. 
Stigmas 2, long. In the state of maturity, each ovary is a fleshy and juicy utricle, and is covered by 
the fleshy and juicy calyx. Nees Von Esenbeck, Genera. 
, HE genus Morus embraces deciduous trees, natives of Europe, 
Asia, and of America, remarkable for their large leaves, which 
are mostly lobed, and which, in a state of cultivation, are liable to 
a great variation in point of magnitude, form, and texture. They 
are all easily propagated from seeds, by cuttings, and layers, and by 
truncheons. All the species will serve to nourish the silkworm ; 
but the white mulberry, (Morns alba,) and its varieties, are considered much the 
best. In warm climates, such as Persia, the leaves of the black mulberry, (Morus 
nigra,) are sufficiently succulent for the purpose ; but in colder countries they do 
not answer equally well. The leaves of the red mulberry. (Morus rubra,) are 
thick, rough, and hairy, even while they are young, and are also improper for 
the food of silkworms, which feed with advantage only on foliage that is thin, 
tender, and succulent. Various attempts have been made to discover some sub- 
stitute for the natural food of these insects, which may be readily procured at all 
seasons, and in sufficient abundance to render the silk culturist independent of 
the chances that attend the growth of the mulberry-tree. It is probable that the 
leaves of most plants which contain a milky juice, will, if they are appropriate 
in point of texture, afford nourishment to the silkworm, from the common prop- 
erty of their juice containing caoutchouc; but, notwithstanding the partial suc- 
cess so frequently proclaimed, as the substitution of the tender leaves of the fig, 
the maclura, the slippery-elm, and the Norway and Tartarian maples, among 
trees; and those of the lettuce, endive, beet, spinach, nettle, viper-grass, (Scor- 
zonera hispanica,) &c., among herbaceous plants, all practical cultivators of silk 
are convinced that it would be unprofitable to feed their worms on anything 
save their natural nourishment. None of these substitutes are of any real use, 
unless we except the maclura, the viper- grass, and the lettuce. 
