Paper Mulberry 



367 



The flowers, which appear in May or June, after the leaves, are dioecious, the 

 staminate ones on one tree, the pistillate on another. The staminate ones are in 

 catkins i to 2.5 cm. long, and have a 4-parted calyx and 4 stamens. The pistil- 

 late flowers are in round, dense heads about 2.5 cm. in diameter, and have a 4-cleft 

 calyx enclosing the i -celled ovary, which is sunnounted by a very long filiform 

 style. In ripening the heads of pistillate flowers become very fleshy, much en- 

 larged, forming an aggregate fruit (syncarp), which is yellowish green, 15 cm. in 

 diameter or less, its surface roughened. 



The tree suckers freely from cut stumps and from its roots. Its wood is very 

 strong, hard, durable, orange-yellow, with a specific gravity of about 0.77. It is 

 valuable for posts, sills, paving, wheels, and for small articles of woodenware. 

 The bright yellow-barked root is said to furnish a yellow dye. 



III. PAPER MULBERRY 



GENUS PAPYRIUS LAMARCK 



Species Papyrius papyrifera (Linnaeus) Kuntze 



Morus papyrifera Linnaeus. Broussonetia papyrifera Ventenat 



OUR species of Papyrius are known, all natives of eastern Asia; one 



of them, the Paper mulberry, the 



type of the genus, has been much 



planted for ornament, and has 

 spread from cultivation to roadsides and 

 waste places, suckering freely from its roots, 

 occurring thus in the United States from 

 New York to Florida and Missouri. 



It is a small tree, with milky sap, greenish 

 gray bark, and stout and densely hairy young 

 twigs. The leaves are alternate, long-stalked, 

 and vary much in outline from entire-mar- 

 gined to 3-lobed or 5-lobed, sometimes with 

 a lobe on one side only, like those of Sassa- 

 fras; they are i to 2 dm. long, 3-nerved, thin, 

 the upper surface rough, the under side hairy. 

 The small dioecious flowers open in May or 

 June; the pistillate ones, composed of a tu- ^^''- S^S- -Paper Mulbeiry. 



bular calyx, a stalked ovary with a two-cleft style, are borne in dense, round heads 

 on one tree; the staminate ones, composed of a 4-cleft calyx, 4 stamens, and a rudi- 

 mentary ovary, are borne in cylindric catkins on another tree. The ripe heads of 

 pistillate flowers are from i to 2.5 cm. in diameter, the red individual drupes pro- 

 jecting beyond the calyx. 



