MORUS 



MOSCHOSMA 



2071 



2J98. Moras alba. (XJi) 



AA. Lvs. dull green, mostly rough or pubescent. 

 B. Full-grown It's, more than 4 in. long. 



multicaQlis, Perr. (.1/. dlha var. mullicaulis, Loud. 

 A/, lilha var. latifolia, Bureau. M. sinensis, Hurt. M. 

 latifoUti, Poir., which Bureau refers here, is jirobably 

 M. indica, Linn.). Fig. 2399A. A strong-growing small 

 tree or giant shrub, with dull roughish an<l very large 

 long-pointed lvs., which are seldom or never prom- 

 inently lobed, and which are often convex above, 

 bearing black sweet fr.: style evident. China, where 

 it is apparently the chief silkworm mulberry. — Once 

 much grown in this country, but not now well known, 

 particularly not in the N. 



nigra, Linn. Black Mulberry. Lvs. dark, dull 

 green, rather large, tapering into a prominent point, 

 commonly ven,' rough above, usually not lobed, the 

 ba.se equal or ver>' nearly so on both sides, the teeth 

 rather small and close, the branches brown: fr. large, 

 comparatively thick and fleshy, mostly dark-colored. 

 The black mulberry is a native of Asia, probably of 

 Persia and adjacent regions. — This is the species which 

 is cult, in the Old World for its fr. In Amer. it is very 

 little grown, although run wild now and then ab(jut 

 grounds and along roadsides. It is not hardy, except in 

 protected places, in New England and N. Y. The 

 Black Persian mulberrj' of the S. and of Calif, is 

 probably of this species. 



r&bra, Linn. Native Red Mulberry. Fig. 2401. 

 Lvs. usiually large, ver>' various, those on the young 

 shoots deeply lobed with ven,' oblique and rotmded 

 sinuses in the base of which there are no teeth, the upper 

 surface rough and the lower one soft or variously 

 pubescent, the teeth medium or comparatively small 

 and cither rounded or blunti.sh: fr. deep red, or when 

 fully ripe almost black, variable in size, often ycrj- good, 

 nearly always having an agreeable slight acidity. Mass. 

 to Fla., Kans. and Texas, mostly in rich soils and bot- 

 tom lands. S.S. 7 :320. — This native mulberrj' has been 

 tried for the feeding of silkworms, but with indifferent 



success. At least 3 of the named fr .-bearing mulberries 

 belong to it, and a yellow-lvd. mulberry, which is 

 somewhat grown for ornament, also appears to be of 

 this species. The characteri-stic lobing of lvs. on the 

 young growth is shown in the upper spray of Fig. 2401. 

 The nearest approach to this lobing is in the Japanese 

 (Moru.s japonica), and this 

 affords another of those inter- 

 esting parallelisms which exist 

 between the Japanese and E. 

 American floras. The red mul- 

 berry is the largest tree of the 

 genus. In the S. it often attains 

 a height of 70 ft. and a diani. of 

 3 or 4 ft. The timber is used 

 for posts and light, woodwork. 

 Var. tomentosa, Bureau (A/. 

 totnentosa, Raf.). Lvs. very soft- 

 pubescent and whitish beneath, 

 often glossy but rough above. 

 Texas. — A large-fruited form of 

 this was intro. in 1889 by T. V. 

 Munson as the Lampasas mul- 

 berry. 



BB. Full-grown Ins. usually 3 in. or less long. 

 celtidifolia, HBK. (A/, meiicana, Benth. M. micro- 

 phijlla, Buckl.). Much smaller tree than M. rubra, 

 rarely more than 2h ft. tall, and with smaller and 

 smoother lvs. and smaller, sourer black fr., which 

 ripens earlier and is not so good: lvs. cordate-ovate, 

 more or less lobed, mucronate-serrate, nearly smooth on 

 both sides: fr. short-ovate or sometimes nearly globu- 

 lar. Texas and Ariz, to Peru. S.S. 7:321.— Occa- 

 sionally jilanted for its frs. L. H. B. 



MOSCHOSMA (from the musk-like odor). Labidtx. 

 In recent years there has come into prominence in 

 European gardens a showy-flowered small shrub or 

 tall herb from tropical and southern Africa under the 

 name Moschosma riparium, but which N. E. Brown 

 now refers to Iboza. The plants belonging to Iboza, 



2399. Leaf of Moras 

 alba at B; of M. multi- 

 caulis at A. 



2400. Russian mulberry. — Morus alba var. tatarica. ( X K) 



