MULBERRY TREE. 



MORUS. 



URTICJE. MONffiCIA TETRANDRIA. 



The derivation of the word Morus is uncertain : some derive it 

 from Mora, a delay, or impediment, the tree putting forth its 

 leaves very late in the season ; but it is more commonly derived 

 from the Greek ; as referring to the redness of its juice, the black- 

 ness of its fruit, or, which is rather an odd notion, from a Greek 

 word, signifying foolish ; by a kind of contradiction ; the Mul- 

 berry being reputed the wisest of trees in not budding till the 

 severe weather has entirely gone by: hence Pliny gives it the 

 epithet sapientissina. After all these ingenious surmises, it seems 

 the name may, wr-h at least equal propriety, be derived from the 

 Greek name for the tree itself. What character the Greeks in- 

 tended to express by that name must be decided by the learned. 



French, murier ; Italian, moro. 



THERE are five species of the Mulberry-tree suf- 

 ficiently hardy to bear our climate without protection ; 

 yet, notwithstanding their great beauty and utility, and 

 the pains that have been taken to promote their cultiva- 

 tion in this cointry, they are rarely seen among us. 



The Whitt Mulberry, Morus alba, a native of China, 

 Cochin-china Japan, and Persia, was cultivated by Ge- 

 rarde in 159 



This species is cultivated for its leaves only, for the 

 purpose of feeding silk-worms. It is in leaf a fortnight 

 earlier than the next species. 



The Common, or Black Mulberry, Morus Nigra, is a 

 larger and stronger tree than the former, and is much 



