The Mulberries, the Osage Orange and the Figs 



justifies planting in towns, and in country yards and gardens. 

 Some of our most desirable sOng birds build near mulberry trees 

 which promise summer fruit for their families. When a bird 

 basin is added with promise of water supply for drink and bath, 

 the place will be chosen by many birds. 



The Paper Mulberry {Broussonetia papyrifera, Vent.) is one 

 of two or three oriental species of its genus. Its inner bark has 

 long furnished a good grade of paper in its own country, Japan. 

 In the United States it has a southern range, and is an ornamental 

 of considerable popularity owing to the luxuriance of its foliage. 

 But as a street tree it is less planted than formerly, for its habit 

 of throwing up suckers makes it troublesome. It has escaped from 

 cultivation in many places. In sheltered situations it is hardy 

 to the citv of New York. 



2. Genus TOXYLON, Raf. 



Osage Orange (Toxylon pomijerum, Raf.) — Handsome, 

 round-headed tree, 40 to 60 feet high, with short trunk, sharp 

 spines, fleshy roots and milky, bitter sap. Bark dark, scaly 

 deeply furrowed; branches orange brown; twigs pubescent, 

 Wood orange-yellow, hard, heavy, flexible, strong, durable in soil, 

 takes fine polish. Buds sunk deep in twigs, blunt, all lateral; 

 Leaves alternate, simple, 3 to 5 inches long, ovate, entire, taper, 

 pointed, thick, dark green, polished above, paler and dull beneath, 

 yellow in autumn; petioles slim, hairy, grooved; thorns axillary. 

 Flowers dicEcious, in June; staminate small, in peduncled racemes, 

 terminal on leafy spur of previous season; greenish; pistillate in 

 globular, many-flowered heads, axillary. Fruit globular, 4 to 5 

 inches in diameter, green, compound by union of i -seeded drupes, 

 which are filled with milky juice; seed oblong. Preferred habitat, 

 deep, rich soil. Distribution, southern Arkansas, southeastern 

 Indian Territory and southern Texas. Naturalised widely. 

 Uses: Indians used wood for bows and clubs. Now used for posts, 

 piles, telegraph poles, paving blocks, railroad ties; sometimes for 

 interior woodwork of houses. Trees planted in parks and grounds 

 for shade and ornament, also for hedges. Roots and bark yield 

 yellow dye and tannic acid. 



The Osage orange hedge marked one period in the pioneer's 

 242 



