1606 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Leaves rarely Iobed, deeply cordate at the base, shortly acuminate at the apex ; 

 margin ciliate ; lower surface pubescent throughout. 



2. Moms rubra, Linnaeus. North America. See p. 1608. 



Leaves rarely lobed, slightly cordate at the base, contracted above into a long 

 acuminate apex ; margin slightly ciliate ; lower surface pubescent throughout. 



3. Moms alba, Linnaeus. China, Japan. See p. 1609. 



Leaves often lobed, variable in size and shape, thinner in texture than those 

 of the preceding species ; margin non-ciliate ; lower surface glabrous, except for 

 pubescence on the midrib and nerves. 



The following species, lately introduced, may be briefly noticed : 



4. Moms cathayana, Hemsley, in Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xxvi. 456 (1894). 

 A tree, about 20 to 30 ft. high. Young branchlets densely pubescent. Leaves 



large, 4 to 5 in. long, ovate, cordate, cuspidate-acuminate, usually without lobes, 

 crenate in margin ; very scabrous above with minute blackish tubercles ; lower surface 

 softly pubescent throughout. Fruit, cylindric, 1 in. long ; styles as long as the ovary. 

 This was discovered by me in 1888 in the mountain forests of western Hupeh 

 in China. It has lately been introduced by Wilson ; and a plant at Kew, 

 obtained from the Arnold Arboretum in 1907, is about 4 ft. high. (A. H.) 



MORUS NIGRA, Black Mulberry 



Moms nigra, Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 986 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1343 (1838); Bentley 



and Trimen, Medicinal Plants, t. 229 (1880); Willkomm, Forstl. Flora, 541 (1887); Mathieu, 

 Fl. Forestiere, 292 (1897). 



A tree, attaining about 50 ft. in height. Bark thick, fissured into broad scaly 

 plates. Young branchlets with a scattered downy pubescence. Leaves (Vol. IV. 

 Plate 267, Fig. 1), subcoriaceous, 4 to 6 in. long, 3 to 5 in. wide, broadly ovate, 

 deeply cordate at the base, acuminate at the apex ; upper surface dark green, 

 shining, with scattered short pubescence ; lower surface pale green, covered through- 

 out with a short downy pubescence ; margin ciliate, with coarse triangular serrations ; 

 petiole I in. long, pubescent. Staminate spikes, f to i in. long. Pistillate spikes, 

 \ in. long, on a short pubescent peduncle ; style and stigmas pubescent. Fruit, about 

 1 in. long, black, very shortly stalked. 



Lobed leaves * are rarely seen on adult trees, but are usual on root-suckers. 



The native country of the black mulberry cannot be ascertained with certainty. 2 

 It has been cultivated in southern Europe from a very early period, but there is no 

 evidence that it is indigenous in Italy or Greece. Boissier 8 and De Candolle 4 suppose 

 it to be truly wild in the districts in Persia, bordering on the Caspian Sea ; but 



Var. laciniata, Loudon [M. laciniata, Miller, Diet. ed. 8, No. 2 (1768)). This is only an individual variation, and 

 cannot be retained as a distinct variety. 



2 Hehn, Wanderings of Plants and Animals, 290 (1888), states, without giving any evidence, that the mulberry is a 

 Medo-Persian tree. 



* Fl. Orient, iv. 1153(1879). Origin of Cultivated Plants, 152 (1886). 



