MULBERRY, Mores, a genus of trees of the natural order maracas, natives of temper ate and warm climates, with deciduous leaves, unisexual flowers in short, thick spikes, 4-parted perianth, containing either four stamens or one pistil with two styles, the perianth of the female flowers becoming succulent and closing over the smell pericarp, the whole spike coalescing into an aggregate fruit.—The COMMON MULBERRY. Or BLACK MULBERRY (.1/. nir,(ra), is a native of the middle parts of Asia, but was intro, laced into the s. of Europe more than a thousand years ago, and is now almost naturalized there. It is a low tree, much branched, with thick rough bark and broad heart-shaped leaves, which are unequally serrated and very rough. It is cultivated in the middle parts of Europe, and succeeds well in the s. of England, but in the northern parts of Britain it requires a wall. The perianth and stiemas are roughly ciliated, and the fruit is of a purplish-black color, with dark red juice, fine aromatic flavor, and subacid sweet taste. The fruit is much esteemed for dessert; an excellent preserve and a pleasant light wine are made of it. The tres often produces its fruit in prodigious quantity. The wood is employed in cabinet-work, but is not of much value. The leaves are sometimes used for feeding silk-worms. The black mulberry lives long; trees still existing in England are known to be more than 300 years old. It is propagated by seed. by suckers, by layers, or by cuttings. It succeeds best in a rich light soil.—Thc WRITE MULBERRY (H. alba) Is a native of China, and has been there planted from time immemorial for the sake of its leaves, which are the best food for silk-worms; on which account also it has been culti vated in the s. of Europe since about 1540. In North America it does not succeed fur ther n. than lat. 43°, being somewhat more impatient of frost than the black mulberry. The perianth and stigmas are smooth; the fruit is almost white, and is much less palat able than that of the black mulberry, although in this respect there is great difference among the many varieties. A rob made of it is useful in sore throat. The best variety for feeding silk-worms, on account of its rapid growth and abundant leaves, is that called the PHILIPPINE MULBERRY. In India the white mulberry is treated as a bush, and cut down twice a year the shoots, stripped of their leaves, being thrown away, although the bark has long been used in China and Japan for making paper. It grows
readily from cuttings. The root has a considerable reputation as a vertnifuge.—The RED MULIERRY (M. rubra), a native of North America, abounding particularly on the lower parts of the Missouri, endures severe frosts much better than either of the preced ing, and is therefore preferred for cultivation in some parts of Europe. Its fruit is deep red, and almost as pleasant as the black mulberry. The wood is much more valuable; being fine-grained, strong, and adapted even for ship-building. The tree attains a liehrht of 60 ft. or INDIAN MULBERRY (M. AdiCa) has black fruit of a delicate flavor, and the leaves are extensively used for feeding silk-worms in China. Cochin China, and Bengal.—M. atro-purpurea has been introduced into India from China for feeding silk-worms. 11L. Mauritiana, a native of Madagascar and Mauritius; M. eellidi folia and ,A1. corylffolia, Peruvian species; M. Tatarica, a native of Central Asia; Ji. latigata, the species most common in the n. of India; and NI Cashmeriana, a native of Cashmere, produce pleasant fruit; M. duleis, a native of the n. of India, is said to be superior in flavor to all others.
The PAPER MULBERRY (Broussonetia papyrifera) differs from the true mulberries in having the female flowers collected in a globular mass. The tree is of moderate size, or, in cultivation, a bush of 6-12 ft. high; with leaves either simple or lobed, a native of India, Japan, and the islands of the Pacific ocean, but now not uncommon in pleasure grounds in Europe and North America. The islanders of the Pacific cultivate the paper mulberries with great care. They make a kind of clothing from the bark, using for this purpose the bark of small branches about an inch in diameter, which they macerate in water, and then, scraping off the epidermis, press and beat the moist slips together, The paper also, which is used in Japan and many parts of the east, is in great part made from the bark of the young shoots of this plant, which for this purpose is boiled to a pulp, and treated somewhat in the same way as the pulp of rags in Europe. When the shoots are cut, new ones spring up very rapidly.—Silk-worms eat the leaves of the paper mulberry. —The fruit is oblong, of a dark-scarlet color, sweetish, but insipid.