182 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



origin, 1 is especially cultivated for its fruit (fig. 101). It is a 

 tolerably agreeable aliment, and at the same time a refreshing medi- 

 cine, slightly astringent and acidulous. Its leaves, also employed in 

 medicine, are used to feed silkworms. But for this purpose, pre- 

 ference is justly given to the white Mulberry 2 (fig. 98-100) which, 

 introduced from China into India, thence into Persia, was brought 

 to Constantinople at the time of the Lower Empire, and passed thence 

 to Sicily and Italy, whence the French brought it after the conquest 

 of Naples in 1494. Its compound fruit is edible, like that of the 

 black Mulberry. Both have a bitter purgative bark formerly extolled 

 as a vermifuge. The wood, as also that of the red Mulberry,^ an 

 American species, is solid, proof against the attacks of insects, sus- 

 ceptible of a fine polish and is used for making furniture and various 

 utensils. The cortical fibres might, in case of need, be employed for 

 textile purposes, but in this respect it is far surpassed by the paper 

 Mulberry,^ (fig. 102-107), a Chinese tree, now introduced in Europe, 

 Oceania and America, and used to make paper and stuffs. Its wood 

 is pale, porous, light and does not polish well. Madura has a wood 

 comparable to that of the preceding trees. That of M, aiirantiaca^^ 

 or the Osage Orange, was used to make bows. The Indians of North 

 America used to dye their faces with the yellow and fetid juice of 

 its large round fruit, to frighten their enemies. The entire plant 

 contains a colouring matter, much more developed in M, tinctoria,^ 



1 A. DC. Geogr. Bot. 856, 981, 986. Kaadsi Kansi, SJo, Kami noki of the Japanese). 



2 M. Alba L. Spec. 1308.— Lamk. Diet. iv. * Nutt. Gen. ii. 234 ; X.-Amer. Sylv. i. 126, t. 

 373; III. t 762, fig. 2.— Lorn. Arboret. iii. 37, 38.— Lindl. iot^. J^^eyr/. 784, fig. 13256.— 

 1398.— Ser. i)es(;;\irM;-. 191.— Endl. ^«cAm<f. Loud. Arboret. iii. fig. 1826-1828. — Ser. 

 165. — EosENTH. op. cit. 191. — Bur. Prodr. xvii. Uur, 232, t. 27. — Guib. op. cit. ii. 324 {Bow 

 238, n. 2. — M. macrophylla Moret. — M. Meret- ivood, Bois d'arc). Good prickly hedges may 

 tiana Jacq. — M. tatarica L. — M. Constantino- be made of this tree, and it is also said to be a 

 politana Poir. Diet. iv. 381. — M. byzantina good substitute for the mulberry in feeding silk 

 SiEB. — M. Indica L. — M. cuspi^ata Wall. — , worms. 



M. rubra Lour, (not L.). — M. latifolia Pom.— ^ d J)q^^ gx Bur. Prodr. xvii. 228. — M. 



multicaulis Perr. — M. mcullata Bonat. — M. Plumiera Don. — M. XantJwxylon Endl. Gen. 



bullata Bale. — M. ehinenais Lodd. Suppl. iv. p. ii. 34. — M. velutina Bl. J/ms. 



3 L. Spec. 1399. — Poir. Diet. iv. 377.— lugd.-Bat. ii. 82.— if. chlorocarpa Liebm.— 

 MiCHX. Fl. Bor-Amer. ii. 179; Arbr. /or. iii. Moms tiuctoria 1,. Spec. ed. 2, 1399. — Velloz. 

 232, c. ic— DuHAM. Arbr. ed. 2, iv. t. 23.— Ser. Fl. Flum. x. t. 22.— J/. Xanthoxylon L.—Brous- 

 Mur. 223, t. 20. — Bur. Prodr. n. 3. — M. cana- sonetia tinctoria Spreng. Syst.n. 901. — H. B. K. 

 densis Lamk. — M. pensylvanica Nois. — M. mis- Nov. Gen. et Spec. ii. 32. — B. Plumierii Spreng. 

 souriensis Audib. — B. Xanthoxylon Mart. Merb. Fl. Bras. 250, — 



'* Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. Tabl. iii. 547. Chlorophora tinctoria Gaudich. {Fustic, FustetCy 



— Bur. Prodr. xvii. 224, n. 2. — Morus papyri- Gelbholz, yellow wood of the Antilles, Leeheroy 



fera L. Spec. 1399. — Papyrius japoniea Poir. Dinde in Colombia, Moreira, Amoreira, Amora 



Diet. V. 3. — Papyrus Ugitima K^mpf. Aman. de arvore in Brazil. 

 :^xot. 471. ic. {Una, Tahou of the Chinese, Jti, 



