490 BOTANY. 



Morns nigra, the Mulberry tree of Persia, is now cultivated in Eu- 

 rope and the United States for its edible fruit masses. Its leaves are 

 used to feed to silkworms, but not to so great an extent as those of 

 M. alba, the White Mulberry, which has been used from time imme- 

 morial for this purpose in China. 



M. rubra, a native of the Eastern United States, bears valuable 

 fruits. 



Several of the trees of the order yield Caoutchouc. The most im- 

 portant of these are Ficus elastica of India, and CastiUoa dastica of 

 Mexico and the West Indies ; the first named is a common greenhouse 

 plant. 



Gum Lac is a resinous exudation collected from an Indian species of 

 ficus, whose branches have been punctured by an hemipterous insect, 

 Coccus lacca. 



The wood of many species is valuable. 



Brosimum Guianensis, of Guiana, produces the beautifully mottled 

 and streaked Snakewood, much prized by cabinetmakers, and for 

 making bows. 



Madura aurantiaca, a tree eight to fifteen metres (25 to 50 ft.) high, 

 growing in Arkansas, Texas, etc., supplies a very hard wood used by 

 the Indians for making bows, hence one of its names, " Bow-wood." 

 Under the name of Osage Orange, it is much used as a hedge plant. 

 Its wood yields a coloring matter used as a dye, and from M. tinctoria, 

 of the West Indies, the dye known as Fustic is obtained. 



The bark of many species yields tenacious fibres ; thus from the 

 Paper Mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), a Chinese and Japanese tree 

 eight to fifteen metres (25 to 50 ft.) in height, the Chinese make paper, 

 and the Pacific Islanders make cloth. One of the most remarkable is 

 the Sack tree ( Antiari* saccidora) of Western India ; its bark is so 

 tenacious that after beating.it may be removed in sections, which are 

 used for sacks for carrying rice, etc. 



The Upas Tree of Java (Antiaris toxicaria) is poisonous, but it is by 

 no means as virulent as it has been described. It frequently grows in 

 volcanic valleys partially filled with carbon dioxide and other noxious 

 gases, and to this fact is doubtless due the marvellous stories told of it. 

 However, from its juice the natives prepare a deadly poison for their 

 arrows. 



The Banyan Tree (Ficus Indica) is remarkable for its numerous ad- 

 ventitious roots, which grow down from its horizontal branches, and 

 thus enable it to extend its top very greatly. One on the Neibudda, 

 with three hundred and twenty of such supporting roots, covers an 

 area two hundred metres (650 ft.) iu diameter. 



Order Urticacese. The Nettle Family. Herbs, shrubs, or trees, 

 with a limpid juice ; they occur in all climates, but mostly in the 

 tropics. More than five hundred species are known. Many of the 

 species possess a valuable fibrous bark. (Figs. 392-7.) 



