324 NATURAL HISTORY. 



blackberry, dark-red, and of an acrid aromatic flavor. 

 Native of Persia, but long since naturalized in Europe 

 and America. *?. 



The White Mulberry (Morus alba) is distinguished 

 from the former by its leaves which are oblique, un- 

 equally serrate, either undivided or lobed ; fruit whitish 

 berry. Native of China; cultivated for sake of its leaves 

 as the food of silk-worms, h. 



The Bread-fruit Tree (Artocarpus incisa). Leaves 

 oblong, much cleft, downy beneath ; the flowers aggre- 

 gated into fleshy heads ; the fleshy receptacle, like the 

 fig, forming a compound baccate fruit. The common 

 bread-fruit is distinguished from the Otaheite ; both, how- 

 ever, attain to the size of a child's head ; the first con- 

 tains a multitude of seeds or kernels, about as large as 

 chestnuts, which, boiled and roasted are eatable, but by 

 no means palatable, having a disagreeable earthy taste ; 

 the latter have a yellowish farinaceous pulp, which tastes 

 much like good potatoes. The first is propagated by 

 planting the seeds, the latter by scions. Both bear fruit 

 the whole year, but that they are so prolific that three 

 trees are sufficient to afford ample food for one man, as 

 travelers have related, is one of the exaggerations which 

 those who go abroad frequently indulge in. Compara- 

 tively, their product is small, and it would require thirty 

 trees, rather than three, to furnish an annual supply for 

 one person. The common bread-fruit tree is planted 

 every where in tropical countries; the Otaheite but rarely, 

 on account of its bearing less fruit. T ^. A relative race, 

 the celebrated Cow Tree (Palo de Vaco. Don., Galaclo- 

 dendron utile), found in South America, yields a copi- 

 ous supply of rich milk, which is pleasant to the taste, 

 and can be drank with safety. The tree which yields 



