DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 243 



Moraea robinsoniana. 



An Iris-like plant, known as the wedding flower of Lord Howe's Island. Christy 

 mentions that its leaves, Avhich are 5 feet long and 3 inches broad, yield a fine fiber 

 by boiling. 



Moriche fiber (Venez.). Mauritia flexuosa. 

 Morning glory fiber. (See Ipomcea.) 

 Mororo (Braz.). See Bauhinia. 

 Morus alba. White Mulbeeey. 



Exogen. Moracew. A tree, 40 to 50 feet. 



Said to be a native of China and the north of India. Its leaves are used as food 

 for silkworms, together with M. indica. M. multicaulis is the variety of M. alba 

 which was planted so largely in this country many years ago at the time of the 

 "multicaulis fever," when an attempt was made to introduce silk culture into the 

 United States. 



Bast Fiber. — The bark from twigs of M. alia and M. indica have been employed 

 for paper stock in China, and the twigs without maceration have been used in India 

 as a tie material. Savorgnan says that the plant has become naturalized in south- 

 ern Europe, where it is known as Gelso reale, or royal mulberry, and is suitable for 

 paper as well as cordage. M. nigra, cultivated chiefly for its fruit, gives a good fiber, 

 said to have been used for cordage. 



Morus rubra. Bed Mulberry. 



Common names. — Red mulberry, black mulberry, Virginia mulberry, Murier 

 sauvage. (Fr.) 



Western New England and Long Island, New York, west through southern Ontario 

 and central Michigan to Dakota, eastern Nebraska and Kansas, south to Biscayne 

 Bay, Florida, and the valley of the Colorado River, Texas. Wood used in fencing, 

 for cooperage, etc., and in the South for boat and ship building. 



Bast Fiber. — The fiber of this species is much used by the Indians for the manu- 

 facture of ropes, mat6, and baskets. A good cloth is made from the fiber of the 

 young shoots. Specimens of the bark and fiber of this species were sent to the 

 Department from Missouri, prepared experimentally by Henry Koenig. Both twigs 

 and sprouts were used, the former giving the best fiber. Only interesting from the 

 botanical standpoint. 



Mound lily (Austr.). Yucca gloriosa. 



Mowana (Afr.). Adansonia digitata. 



Mucuja (Braz.). See Acrocomia lasiospatha. 



Mucuna (Braz). ConirQon name of Mucuna urens. 



Mucuna urens. 



A genus of leguminous plants found chiefly in tropical Asia and America, though 

 represented in Africa and the Fiji Islands. "The plants of this genus are well 

 known to travelers in tropical countries from the exceedingly annoying character 

 of the seed pods, which are thickly covered with stinging hairs easily detached by 

 the slightest shake, and causing great irritation if they happen to fall upon exposed 

 parts of the body" (Treas. Botany, V. 2). The species named, known as the 

 Mucuna in Brazil, furnishes a fiber for very strong ropes. 



Mudar (see Calotropis gigantea). 



