290. MORUS ALBA W HITE MULBERRY. 39 



OEDEB MORACEJE: MULBESBY FAMILY. 



Leaves conduplicate or involute in the bud, petiolate, alternate, deciduous, with 

 caducous stipules inclosing the leaf in the bud. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, 

 small, in ament-like spikes or heads, from the axils of caducous bud-scales or of 

 the lower leaves of the shoots oi the season; calyx 3-5-lobed or parted; corolla 

 none; stamens 1 to 4, inserted on the bases of the calyx-lobes; ovary superior, 

 1-2 celled; styles 1-2; ovules solitary, anatropous and pendulous. Fruit an aggre- 

 gation of drupelets, each inclosed in the thick fleshy calyx. 



Trees, shrubs and herbs of over nine hundred species, generally with milky 

 juice and natives of temperate and tropical regions. They are grouped in fifty- 

 four genera of which four are represented in North American trees, three being 

 indigenous and the fourth a naturalized species. 



GENUS MORUS, L. 



Leaves serrate-dentate and sometimes 3-5-lobed or mitten-shaped, all forms 

 often on the same tree, 3-nerved at base. Flowers small, appearing with the 

 unfolding of the leaves or soon after; the staminate in cylindrical, pedunculate 

 ament-like spikes; calyx deeply 4-lobed; stamens 4, opposite the calyx lobes, 

 inflexed in the bud, straightening out elastically (thereby scattering the pollen) 

 and becoming exserted; anthers 2-celled, introrse, longitudinally dehiscent; pistil- 

 late flowers sessile, in shorter compact spikes; calyx 4-parted, with spreading 

 stigmas. Fruit a blackberry-like aggregation of drupelets (sincarp), each tipped 

 witli the remnants of the styles and formed by the nutlet enveloped by the succu- 

 lent enlarged and colored calyx; seed pendulous with curved embryo and scanty 

 albumen. 



Trees of eight *or ten species, with milky juice and mostly of the tropical and 

 north temperate regions of both hemispheres. Two are indigenous to the United 

 States, one being found along the Mexican frontier and the other in most of the 

 Atlantic states. A third is a species introduced from Japan and eastern Asia and 

 extensively naturalized in eastern United States. (Morus is the ancient Latin 

 name of the Mulberry-tree.) 



290. MORUS ALBA, L. 



WHITE MULBERRY. 



Ger., Wevsze Maulbeerbaum; Fr., Murier blanc; Sp., Moral bianco. 



SPECIFIC CHABACTEBS: Leaves mostly ovate, 3-7 in. long, serrate, and on 

 vigorous shoots often with from 1-5 wide lobes, cordate or truncate at base, mostly 

 acute at apex, thin, shining dark green above, duller beneath. Fruit maturing in 

 June or July, ^-1% in. long, sweet and succulent, usually white or pinkish 

 tinted. Several varieties have originatel in cultivation, one with nearly black 

 fruit. 



The White Mulberry, as we see it in this country, is seldom more 

 than 30 or 40 ft. (8 m.) in height. It is of rather wide-spreading 

 habit of growth and its trunk may be 3 or 3 1 /*? ft. (1 m.) in diameter. 

 The bark of trunk is of a yellowish brown color, rough with firm 

 thick-scaled ridges. 



HABITAT. The native home of the White Mulberry is northern 

 China and Japan ; whence it has been extensively introduced into all 

 countries where climatic conditions are favorable, owing to the value 

 of its foliage as food for the silk worm. In this country it was very 

 extensively planted in early days, commencing as far back as the 



