370 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



M. nigra Linn, black mulberry. 



Temperate Asia. The black mulberry is a native of north Persia and the Caucasus. 

 It was brought at a very early period to Greece. Theophrastus was acquainted with it 

 and called it sukamttos. It is only at a late period that this tree, brought by Lucius Vitellus 

 from Syria to Rome, was successfully reared in Italy, after all earlier experiments, accord- 

 ing to Pliny, had been conducted in vain. At the time of Palladius and even in that of 

 Athaneus, the mulberry tree had multiplied but little in that coimtry. The introduction 

 of silk culture under Justinian gave a new importance to this tree, and, from that time 

 to the present, its propagation in western and northern Europe, Denmark and Sweden 

 has taken place very rapidly. It was not till the sixteenth century that this plant was 

 superceded by M. alba for the feeding of silk worms.^ This species, according to Mueller,' 

 was planted in France in 1500. In the United States, it is scarcely hardy north of New 

 York, but there and southward it is occasionally cultivated for its fruit. In 1760, 

 Jeflerys * states it was not fovmd in Louisiana. 



M. rubra Linn, red mulberry. 



From New England to Illinois and southward.^ The fruit is preferred, says Emer- 

 son,' to that of any other species by most people. The tree grows abundantly in northern 

 Missouri and along the rivers of Kansas. In Indian Territory, the large, sweet, black 

 fruit is greatly esteemed by the Indians. This fruit was observed by De Soto * on the 

 route to Apalachee, and the tree was seen by Strachey ' on James River planted around 

 native dwellings. 



M. serrata Roxb. 



Himalayan region. This species is cultivated in Kimawar. It is common in the 

 Himalayas. The purple fruit is mucilaginous and sweet but not very fleshy.' 



Mouriria pusa Gardn. Melastomaceae. silverwood. 



Brazil. Gardner ' says the fruit of this Brazilian tree is about the size of a small 

 plum, black in color and resembles much in taste the fruit of Eugenia caulifiora. In the 

 province of Ceara, this fruit is much esteemed and is carried through the streets for sale 

 by the Indians. It is called pusa. 



M. rhizophoraefolia Gardn. 



Martinique. The fruit is regularly sold in the markets at St. Vincent, but no high 

 value is set upon it, owing to the very small quantity of sweet pulp which tenaciously 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 341. 1859. 



'Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 285. 1891. 8th Ed. 



'Jefiferys, T. Nat. Hist. Amer. 1:155. 1760. 



* Gray, A. Man. Bot. 444. 1868. 



' Emerson, G. B. Trees, Shrubs Mass. 1:315. 1875. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist Pis. 770. 1879. 



' Ibid. 



' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 409. 1876. 



' Gardner, G. Trav. Braz. 146. 1849. 



