Morns alba, 
THE WHITE-FRUITED MULBERRY-TREE. 
Synonytnes. 
Morus alba, 
Miirier blanc, Murier du ver-a-soie, 
Weisser Maulbeerbaum, 
Gelso, Gelso moro, Moro bianco, Moro 
gelso, 
Morera, 
White Mulberry-tree, 
Linmus, Hortus Cliffortianus. 
Willdenow, Linnaei Species Plantarum. 
Loudon, Arboretum Bntannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Spain. 
Britain and Anglo-America. 
Derivation. The specific name alba is derived from the Latin albus, white; in reference to the colour of the fruit of inn 
species. 
Engravings. Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, iii., fig. 1223, and vii., pi. 225 et 22G ; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves with a deep scallop at the base, and either heart-shaped or ovate, undivided 
or lobed, serrated with unequal teeth, glossy, or, at least, smoothish; the projecting portions on the two 
sides of the basal sinus unequal Willdenow, Linncei Spec. Plant. 
.% 
Description. 
J-w\, 
iHE Morus alba is a deciduous tree, 
sometimes growing to a height of 
thirty or forty feet, with a trunk 
from ten to twenty inches in diam- 
eter. It is readily distinguished from the black mulberry, 
even in winter, by its more numerous, slender, upright- 
growing, and white-barked shoots. It is a tree of much 
more rapid growth than that species, and its leaves are not 
only less rough and more succulent, but they contain more 
of the glutinous, milky substance, resembling caoutchouc, 
which gives tenacity to the silk produced by the worms that feed on them. 
They are generally cordate and entire, but sometimes lobed, and always deeply 
serrated. The flowers, which put forth in May, are generally succeeded by an 
abundance of white fruit, but in some varieties, it is ash-coloured, purple, and 
even black. 
Varieties. The Morus alba, like the apple, the pear, and the peach, when 
propagated from seeds, is liable to sport, and produce varieties differing, in many 
cases, more from one another than they do from other species. Tlir.se variations 
are very numerous; but many of the sorts enumerated in catalogues, in differenl 
countries, perhaps are only dissimilar in name. The following, however, are 
some of those most generally cultivated for their leaves, in Europe and America, 
as affording food for the silkworm : 
1. M. a. macrophylla, Loudon. Large-leaved White-fruited Mulberry ; Murier 
d gratifies feuilles, Murier cf E spa gne, Feuille cPEspagne, of the French : Cfroaa- 
blcittriger Maulbeerbaum, of the Germans. This varietj produces strong and 
vigorous shoots, with large leaves, sometimes measuring eight inches long, and 
six inches broad, resembling in form those of the Morus nigra, but are smooth, 
glossy, and succulent. The fruit is white. If grown in rich soil, this BOlt, 
