MULBERRY FAMILY 



tainly the flourishing plants now growing in that garden, and 

 for the delight of tourists averred to be the scions of that 

 classic tree, are Black Mulberries. 



The mulberry was dedicated by the Greeks to Minerva, 

 probably because it was considered the wisest of trees. 



Many persons still remember a children's game played by 

 little girls, with the refrain, 



As we go round the mulberry bush, 

 The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, 

 As we go round the mulberry bush, 

 So early in the morning. 



The White Mulberry, Morus alba, is a native of China, and 

 although many varieties have been produced they are all 

 alike in this, that the fruit is white. The leaves are the pre- 

 ferred food of the silkworm and the tree seems to have been 

 cultivated in China from most ancient times for the purpose 

 of rearing silkworms. It is hardy on the southern shore of 

 Lake Erie, and doubtless throughout our temperate range, 

 although it succumbs to excessive heat and extreme cold. 

 The leaves are variable in form, dark green and shining. 



OSAGE ORANGE 



Toxylon pomiferum. Madura aurantlaca. 



Toxylon, of Greek derivation, alludes to the Indian use of the wood 

 in the manufacture of bows. Maclura was given in honor of Will- 

 iam Maclure, an eminent scientist. 



Native to the rich bottom lands of Arkansas, Texas, and Indian 

 Territory. Forty to sixty feet high with short trunk and handsome 

 round-topped head. Juice milky and acrid. Roots thick, fleshy, 

 covered with bright orange colored bark. 



Bark. Dark, deeply furrowed, scaly. Branchlets at first bright 

 green, pubescent, during first winter they become light brown tinged 

 with orange, later they become a paler orange brown. Branches 

 with yellow pith, and armed with stout, straight, axillary spines. 



Wood. Bright orange yellow, sapwood paler yellow ; heavy, 

 hard, strong, flexible, capable of receiving a fine polish, very durable 



258 *. 



