706 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



mauros, dark ; and Sir J. E. Smith suggests that it may have been taken by antiphrasis from 

 moros, foolish, the mulberry tree, from its slowness in jmtting out its leaves, being anciently con- 

 sidered the emblem of wisdom. The Morea. in the Levant, is said to be so called from the 

 resemblance of the shape of thai peninsula to the leaf of a mulberry 



Gen. Char., Sfc. Floivers unisexual, mostly monoecious, in some dioecious or 



polygamous. Male flowers in axillary spikes. Calyx of 4 equal sepals, 



imbricate in aestivation, expanded in flowering. Stamens 4. Female 



flowers. Calyx of 4 leaves, in opposite pairs, the outer pair the larger, all 



upright and persistent, becoming pulpy and juicy. Stamens 2, long. (G. 



1)0)1.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; large, mostly lobed and 

 rough. Floivers greenish white. Fruit the aggregate of the ovary and the 

 calyxes, constituting what is termed a mulberry. Trees, deciduous ; 

 natives of Europe, Asia, and North America. Propagated by cuttings or 

 layers, or by large truncheons, in good soil. 



The leaves of all the species will serve to nourish the silkworm ; but M. 

 alba, and its varieties, are considered much the best for this purpose. 



i 1. i^f. N I 'gr A Poir. The hXack-fruited, or common. Mulberry. 



Identification. Poir. Ency. Meth., 4. p. 377. ; Lin. Sp. PI., 1398 ; Wilkl. Sp. PI., 4. p. 369. 

 Synonymes. iV/6rus Dod. Pempt. 810. ; M. fructu nlgro Bauh. Pin. 459. 



Engravings. Dend. Brit., t. 159. ; N. Du Ham., 4. t. 22. ; the plate in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol.vii.; 

 and our Jig. 138'J. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Sexes monoecious, sometimes dioecious. Leaves heart- 

 shaped, bluntish, or slightly lobed with about 5 lobes ; toothed with unequal 

 teeth,. rough. (Wi/hi.) A deciduous tree. Persia. Height 20 ft. to 30 ft. 

 Introduced in 1548. Flowers greenish white ; June. Fruit oblong, red 

 or black ; ripe in August. 



Variety. 



* M. n. 2 laciniata Mill. Diet. No. 2. has the leaves jagged rather than cut. 



In Britain, the common mulberry always assumes something of a dwarf or 

 stunted character, spreading into very thick arms, or branches, near the 



15Sn. iVorus niKra. 



ground, and forming an extremely large head. It is a tree of very grea^ 

 durability ; the trees at Syon being satd to be 300 years old, and some aj 



