706 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
mauros, dark; and Sir J, E. Smith suggests that it may have been taken by antiphrasis from 
méros, foolish, the mulberry tree, from its slowness in putting out its leaves, being anciently con- 
sidered the emblem of wisdom. The Morea, in the Levant, is said to beso called from the 
resemblance of the shape of that peninsula to the leaf of a mulberry. 
Gen. Char., &c. Flowers unisexual, mostly moncecious, in some dicecious or 
polygamous, — Male flowers in axillary spikes. Calye of 4 equal sepals, 
imbricate in estivation, expanded in flowering. Stamens 4. Female 
flowers. Calyx of 4 leaves, in opposite pairs, the outer pair the larger, all 
pana and persistent, becoming pulpy and juicy. Stamens 2, long. (G. 
Don. 
Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; large, mostly lobed and 
rough. Flowers greenish white. Fruit the aggregate of the ovary and the 
calyxes, constituting what is termed a mulberry. — Trees, deciduous ; 
natives of Europe, Asia, and North America. Propagated by cuttings or 
layers, or by large truncheons, in good soil. 
The leaves of all the species will serve to nourish the silkworm ; but 1M. 
alba, and its varieties, are considered much the best for this purpose. 
£1. M.nvera Poir. The black-fruted, or common, Mulberry. 
Identification. Poir. Ency. Méth., 4. p. 377.; Lin. Sp. Pl, 1398 ; Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 369. 
iS pnony mes: Morus Dod. Pempt. 810. ; M. frdctu nigro Bauk. Pin. 459. 7 . a 
mgravings. Dend. Brit., t. 159.; N. Du Ham., 4. t. 22.; the plate in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vii. ; 
and our fig. 1380. 
Spec. Char., §&c. Sexes moncecious, sometimes dicecious: Leaves heart- 
shaped, bluntish, or slightly lobed with about 5 lobes ; toothed with unequal 
teeth, rough. (Willd.) A deciduous tree. Persia. Height 20 ft. to 30 ft. 
Introduced in 1548. Flowers greenish white ; June. Fruit oblong, red 
or black ; ripe in August. 
Variety. 
* M.n. 2 laciniata Mill. Dict. No. 2. has the leaves jagged rather than cut. 
In Britain, the common mulberry always assumes something of a dwarf or 
stunted character, spreading into very thick arms, or branches, near the 
1380. Morus nigra, 
ground, and forming an extremely large head. It is a tree of very great 
durability ; the trees at Syon being said to be 300 years old, and some at 
