352 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
article mainly deals with this, the best known 
of the species, so little farther need be said of 
it here. Cultivated for thousands of years past, 
its native country was long uncertain, though 
now believed to be Persia and the region of 
the Euphrates. Many cultivated forms have 
arisen differing in hardiness,value, and in minor 
details. The Black Mulberry, used to some 
extent in silk culture, is less valued for its 
leaves than for its fruit, which is consumed in 
large quantities in parts of Europe and Asia. 
Trees of 40 feet or more exist in favoured spots, 
but 20 to 30 feet is the average height, their 
tendency being to spread. 
The American Mulberry {M. rubra). — 
The tallest of the Mulberries, often reaching 
70 feet with a trunk diameter of 3 to 4 feet. 
It is a rapid grower, densely leafy, with large 
leaves very variable in outline, rough-surfaced 
above and softly downy beneath, those on the 
youngshootsbeingstrangelylobed on one side. 
The leaves are worthless for silkworms and 
save in selected forms the fruit is of little 
value, though very variable even in the wild 
treeswhich grow on rich bottomlands through- 
out the northern United States, and especially 
around Lake Erie and Niagara. The wood 
of the Red Mulberry is used for shipbuilding, 
posts, and light woodwork for outdoor uses, 
being durable in contact with the soil. There 
are several forms of it selected for their fruits, 
such as Hicks\ 'Johnson s., and Stubbs\ this being 
the freest though all are heavy croppers, with 
deep-black fruits of good flavour. The Lam- 
pasas Mulberry is also a selection of M. rubra., 
but is less hardy and its fruits not so good. 
M. tomentosa is a form of rubra with leaves 
glossy and rough above, whitish and of velvety 
softness underneath. 
The Russian Mulberry [M. alba tatar- 
ica). — This is now classed as one of the many 
forms of the White Mulberry, but it is dis- 
tinct in character. Comingfrom the arid plains 
of the Volga it is very hardy and does better 
than any other kind in poor dry soils and ex- 
posed places. It makes a low bushy tree which 
may nevertheless reach 40 feet, and Hke M. 
multicaulis throws a great quantity of stout erect 
shoots from the spreading crown. The leaf is 
very variable but in the main small, much 
lobed, and sometimes finely cut. The fruit is 
mostly small and insipid though very variable 
in size, colour, and quality, large-fruited plants 
(which often occur in a batch of seedlings) 
sometimes producing berries of fair quality. 
The trees are easily raised from seed and grow 
fast for awhile, will stand cutting to any ex- 
tent, and are so indifferent to drought, cold, 
and exposure, that, in the most inhospitable 
regions of central Russia and the western 
United States, this little tree is prized for 
fences and wind-breaks. The Victoria Mul- 
berry is a Texan selection of this tree, recom- 
mended for its fine black fruits. 
Among trees so variable as 
Garden Forms. is the Mulberry in all its 
I forms, there are many kinds 
I of garden value. For their fruits there are 
the selections of American raisers — the New 
American, the Thorburn, and the Trowbridge, 
I in dark fruits ; and Ramsey's White, a Texan 
tree which fruits very young. The Black Per- 
sian and Black Spanish forms of M. nigra are 
of good quality but tender. The DowningMul- 
berry is of difficult increase and is now seldom 
found true ; its leaves and fruits are large, 
the berries jet-black and of the best quality, 
with a long season and trees that bear early. 
Distinct in growth is M. constantinopoHtana, a 
neat lawn tree of 10 to 12 feet, with sturdy 
branches upon which the glossy heart-shaped 
leaves are densely clustered. There is also a 
pyramidal form ; a form known as Italia.^ with 
very large much-cut leaves ; and M. Fegyver- 
nekiana., a miniature tree only 2 feet high. 
Morus nervosa., its narrow and jagged leaves 
netted with prominent white veins, is hand- 
some and distinct, a good grower with small 
fruits. But quite the most remarkable of gar- 
den forms is the Weeping Mulberry, which 
originated in America some twenty years ago 
as a chance seedling of the hardy Russian kind, 
and is one of the best weeping trees for small 
gardens. Fully hardy, vigorous, and graceful, 
it forms a perfect umbrella-head whose slender 
branches droop to the ground, bearing small 
black fruits of agreeable flavour, which ripen 
in July. A golden-leaved form of M. rubra is 
sometimes seen in American gardens, while in 
such parts of central Europe as are exposed to 
severe cold, a dwarf Mulberry known as Morus 
fakiva is grown for its great endurance. B. 
