THE MULBERRY 27 



of little but juice, and touch those of the other 

 flowers of the cluster. The Mulberry thus formed 

 corresponds, therefore, approximately to a whole 

 bunch of Currants, whilst the true fruits are small, 

 round, dry capsules, each enclosed by its four juicy 

 perianth-leaves. 



The Black Mulberry (Morus nigra Poir), the only 

 species familiar to us in England, is, of course, so 

 called from the colour of the ripe fruit, though, as a 

 matter of fact, some varieties of the so-called White 

 Mulberry {M. alba L.) also have black fruit. It is 

 generally a much-branched tree, not exceeding a 

 total height of thirty feet ; but it forms a single stem 

 from one foot to three feet in diameter, with a thick, 

 rough, reddish - brown bark. This gives off large 

 horizontal branches at the height of a very few feet, 

 and these again branching produce a large rounded 

 head, which when in full leaf affords a perfect shade. 



The leaves are very harsh in texture and of a dark 

 green colour, which chkracters combine to give the 

 impression that they are thicker than they really are. 

 They vary considerably in form and size ; but may 

 be described as generally broadly ovate with a cordate 

 base, an acute apex and a coarsely irregularly serrate 

 margin, and not much exceeding four inches in length 

 or breadth. The leaf-stalk is seldom more than a 

 quarter the length of the blade, and is flanked by two 

 linear stipules. The young leaves are softly hairy on 

 their under surfaces, and may remain so, whilst the 

 harshness of the upper surfaces is produced by the 

 greater stiShess of the hairs borne by them. Suckers 

 from the base of old stems, or less commonly the 



