MULBERRY (01I0. mOrberi, lit firberi, Ger. ilaulbeere. mulberry, from Lat. morum, (11:. n(B pop, moron, ,u6pop, moron, mulberry + berry, AS. ben, berige, OHO. bent, Ger. Bccre, Goth. bast, berry), Morns. A genus of trees of the natural order Urticacele. natives of temperate and warm climates, with deciduous leaves, unisexual flowers in short, thick spikes, a fonr-parted perianth, containing either four stamens or one pistil with two styles, the perianth of the female flowers becoming succulent and closing over the small pericarp to form with other flowers of the spike an aggregate fruit. There have been about 100 species described, but much confusion exists among them, and some authors have reduced them to ten or even less. The common mulberry, or black mulberry (Morns nigra), a long-lived native of the middle parts of Asia introduced into cultivation in Europe more than a thousand years ago. and now almost naturalized there, is a low, much branched tree, with thick, rough bark and broad. unequally serrated and very rough heart-shaped leaves. It is not. hardy in the United States as far north as New York, and is seldom seen exeept in the South and in Cali fornia, where some of the improved varieties are grown. The fruit, which is purplish-black, with dark-red juice, tine aromatic flavor, and subacid sweet taste, is often procured in prodigious quan tities and is much esteemed for dessert, for pre serving. and for wine-making. The wood is em ployed in cabinet-work, but is not of much value The leaves are sometimes used for feeding silk worms. It is propagated by sisal, suckers. layers, or cuttings, and succeeds best in a rich light soil. The white mulberry (Monts alba) has been planted in Southern Europe since 1540, in India and China, where it. is native. from time im memorial for its leaves, which are the best food for silk-worms. In North America it has been extensively planted and in places exists in a half wild state as trees a foot or more in diameter. K ENRICK, WILMA NI. I The fruit is almost white, and 11111(.11 less palatable than that of the former, although there is ,great dif ference among the niany varieties. The best variety for feeding silk-worms, on-account of its rapid growth and abundant leaves, is that called the Philippine mulberry. A variety, tatarica, called the Russian mulberry, is a hardy, rapid grower, well adapted to hedges, windbreaks, small timber, and ornamental plantings. fur which purpose it has been extensively planted in the Western United States. Morns mallicaulis, by sonic considered a variety of .(lows alba, once
grown extensively in the United States to feed silk-worms, is seldom seen now. In India the white mulberry is treated as a bush, and cut down twice a year, the stripped shoots being thrown away. Its bark has long been used in China and Japan for making paper. It grows readily from cuttings. The root has a. consider able reputation as a vermifuge. The red mulberry (]torus ratio), a native of North America, abounding from New York to Nebraska and south to the Gulf of Mexico, is the largest tree of the genus, attaining in the South a height of 70 feet and 3 feet in diameter. It endures severe frosts much better than the preceding, 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 shipbuilding. Of each of these three species there are numerous named varieties which are cultivated for their fruits, but they have not received the attention in the United States that they deserve. The Indian mulberry (Morns indica) has black fruit of a delicate flavor, and the leaves are extensively used for feeding silk-worms in China, Cochin China, and lIengal. I/orus alba, Earns celtidi folio, and Morns corylifolia, Peruvian species; Mortis hurigat(t. the species most common in the north of India; and Ilorus Cashmeriana,probably a form of llorus indica, a native of Cashmere, pro duce pleasant fruit: Mortis dnleis, a native of the north of India, is said to lie superior in flavor to all others.
The paper mulberry (Braussonet in papyri [era) , a native of India, Japan, and islands in the Pacific, frequently planted for ornament in Amer ica and Europe, differs front the true mulberry in having the female (lowers collected in a globular mass. The fruit is oblong, dark-sea rIct color, sweetish, but insipid. The tree is of moderate size, or, in cultivation, a bush 6 to 12 feet high with leaves either simple or lobed. The islanders of the Pacific cultivate this species with great care and make a kind of clothing from the bark. For this purpose small branches about an inch in diameter are macerated in water. The epidermis is then removed by scraping. The young shoots, treated somewhat like rag pulp in Europe, furnish much of the paper used in Japan and the East. When the shoots are cut, new ones spring up very rapidly. Silk-worms eat the leaves. See Plate of :MULBERRY AND LIQUID:111 BAR, accompanying latter title.