CHAPTER XXIX: THE MULBERRIES, THE 

 OSAGE ORANGE AND THE FIGS 



Family Morace/^ 



Trees of small or medium size, with milky sap. Leaves sim- 

 ple^ alternate, deciduous, variable. Flowers minute, in axillary 

 spikes or heads, dioecious or monoecious. Fruit compound, of 

 many small fleshy drupes. 



KEY TO GENERA AND SPECIES 



A. Leaves toothed or lobed, with swollen, netted veins; fruit 

 an edible, oblong berry. 



I. Genus MORUS, Linn. 

 B. Fruit purple; leaves 3 to 5 inches long. 



(A/, nibra) red mulberry 

 BB. Fruit black; leaves i to 2 inches long. 



(M. celtidijolia) Mexican mulberry 

 AA. Leaves entire; fruit globular. 



B. Fruit 4 to 5 inches in diameter, inedible. 

 2. Genus TOXYLON, Raf. 



(7. pomijerum) osage orange 

 BB. Fruit size of pea, ovate; tree habit parasitic. 

 3. Genus FICUS, Linn. 

 C. Leaves thick, yellow-green; fruit short stemmed. 



(F. aurea) golden fig 

 CC. Leaves thin, dark green, fruit long-stemmed. 



(F. populnea) poplar-leaf fig 



The mulberry family comprises 55 genera and 925 species of 

 temperate zone and tropical plants, of which the fig, genus Ficus, 

 includes 600 species. The hemp, important for its fibrous inner 

 bark, and the hop, are well known herbaceous members of the 

 mulberry family. Hemp is a native of Europe and Asia, but has 

 run wild here, and is now in cultivation throughout both tem- 

 perate zones. Hops are used in the brewing of beer, and in the 

 Old World as well as the New are raised as a staple field crop. The 

 plant is native to both hemispheres. 



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