MULBERRIES. 233 



Morus rubra. Bed Mulberry. 



Leaves ovate or nearly orbicular in outline, acute or 

 taper-pointed occasionally deeply lobed. glabrous above, per- 

 sistently pubescent beneath or when young almost tomentose. 

 Flowers appear with the unfolding of the leaves. The fruit 

 which is at first bright red, when fully grown becomes dark 

 purple or nearly black and when fully ripe is sweet, juicy and 

 pleasant to the taste. It ripens in summer and is from 1 to 

 li inches long. South, it forms a large tree with brown rough 

 bark, but within our range it is a small tree or mere shrub. 



Distribution. Vermont to Ontario, Michigan, and South 

 Dakota aiid south to Florida and Texas. In Minnesota 

 it reaches its northern limit in the southern part of the state. 



Propagation. By seeds or by cuttings. 



Properties of wood. Light, soft, not strong, rather tough, 

 coarse grained and very durable in contact wiih the soil. 

 Specific gravity 0.5898; weight of a cubic foot 36.75 pounds. 



Uses. The Red Mulberry is sometimes used in the middle 

 and southern states as an ornamental tree where ft forms a 

 large spreading tree forty feet high. It well deserves a place 

 on lawns or in parks but is not very hardy in Minnesota. 

 The wood is valued for fence posts and is used in cooperage; 

 in the southern states it is often used in boat-building. The 

 inner bark is fibrous and was used by the Indians of i-he 

 southern states for making a coarse cloth; in early days this 

 fibre was used for cordage. The leaves have been largely ex- 

 perimented with as food for silk worms but they are not so 

 good for this purpose as those of the White Mulberry ( Moms 

 alba). 



Morus alba tartarica. Russian Mulberry. 

 Leaves thin, smooth, glabrous and somewhat shining on 

 both sides, heart-shaped, ovate or orbicular, generally 

 deeply lobed and dentate; the same plant will often have 

 leaves of several forms. Flowers appear with the leaves, 

 generally dioecious or monoecious but rarely polygamous. 

 The fruit ripens early in July and is white or purplish in 

 color and varies from f to 1| inches in length. As commonly 

 seen it is a low-growing very bushy-topped small tree with 

 lisrht gray bark and spreading branches. 



