MULBERRY, botanically Morus (family Moraceae), a genus of 12 species growing in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere and in the mountains of the tropics. They are decidu ous trees or shrubs with alternate, toothed, often three-lobed leaves and unisexual flowers in catkin-like inflorescences. The black mulberry (M. nigra), a native of western Asia, spread west wards in cultivation at an early period; it was cultivated by the Greeks and Romans, and in northern Europe by the 9th and loth centuries. Up to the 15th century it was extensively grown in Italy for rearing silkworms, but has since been superseded by M. alba. It is now mainly cultivated for its oblong purplish-black fruit. The mulberry succeeds as a standard in the warmer parts of England, especially in sheltered situations, but in the north of England and the less favoured parts of Scotland it requires the assistance of a wall. The tree succeeds best in a rich, deep, and somewhat moist loam, but grows well in any good garden ground. It is usually propagated either by cuttings or layers. The mulberry may be grown in pots, and gently forwarded in an orchard house, and under these conditions the fruit acquires a richness of flavour unknown in the fruit ripened out of doors.
The white mulberry (M. alba), so called from its nearly white fruit, is the one mainly employed in silkworm culture. It is a native of China and has been cultivated from the earliest times in Asia and since the 12th century in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean region. There are many varieties, among which
the Philippine mulberry (var. multicaulis) is perhaps most highly esteemed. The Indian species, M. indica (not to be confounded with Morinda citrifolia, a tree of the family Rubiaceae, sometimes also called Indian mulberry), is also cultivated for the same purpose.
The North American red mulberry (M. rubra) is the largest of the genus, often reaching a height of 7o ft. It produces dark red berries much inferior in flavour, however, to those of M. nigra. Both the white and the red mulberry have been grown in the eastern United States since colonial times and both have sparingly escaped from cultivation.
Broussonetia papyrifera, a member of a closely allied genus, is the paper mulberry, a native of Burma, China and Polynesia, and widely cultivated in Japan, where the bark is used for paper making. The Tapa-cloth of the South Sea Islands is also made from it. The plant is a shrub or small tree with large mulberry like lobed or entire hairy leaves. Several forms are cultivated, differing chiefly in the shape of the leaves. The paper mulberry, often planted for ornament in the south-eastern United States, has run wild in various localities from New York to Florida.