Morus rubra, THE RED-FRUITED MULBERRY-TREE. Morus rubra, Mârier rouge, Rother Maulbeerbaum, Moro rosso, Synonymes. LINNEUS, Species Plantarum. MICHAUX, North American Sylva. GERMANY. Red Mulberry-tree, Virginian Mulberry-BRITAIN AND Anglo-America. iree, Derivations. The specific name rubra is derived from the Latin ruber, red; having reference to the colour of the fruit of this species. The other names have the same signification as the botanical one, except Virginian Mulberry, which is so called because this tree was originally found in great abundance in the colony of Virginia. Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pl. 116; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vii., pl. 227; and the figures below. Specific Characters. Sexes polygamous, or diœcious. Spikes of female flowers cylindrical. Catkins of male flowers of the length of those of the Betula alba. Leaves heart-shaped, ovate, acuminate, 3-lobed, or palmate; serrated with equal teeth, rough, somewhat villous; under surface very tomentose, and soft. Description. OHE Morus rubra, when T growing in its native forests, among other trees, sometimes attains a height of sixty or seventy feet, with a trunk two feet in diameter; but, in open situations, its stature is low, and the thickness of the stem proportionably increased. The bark of the trunk of old trees is of a grayish colour, and is more deeply furrowed than that of the oak. The leaves, which are often nine or ten inches in length, and three-fourths as broad as they are long, are sometimes entire, and at others divided into two or three lobes, rounded, cordiform, denticulated, of a dark glossy-green colour, with a thick texture, and a rough, uneven surface. The sexes are usually separate, though they are sometimes found on the same trees, which, it is even stated, vary in their sexes every year. The male flowers, which put forth in Pennsylvania in May, form pendulous, cylindrical aments, about an inch in length; but those of the opposite sex are small, and scarcely apparent. The fruit, which is generally of a deep-red colour, is of an oblong form, an agreeable, acidulous, sugary taste, and is composed by the union of a great number of small utriculi, each of which contains a minute seed. Varieties. The Morus rubra appears to have the same tendency to sport, and form new varieties or races, as its eastern congeners, the white, and black-fruited species. The following variations we insert principally on the authority of Raf inesque, which are generally treated by him as species; but, from observations of our own, as well as the opinion of others, we regard them only as varieties:1. M. R. PALLIDA. Pale-fruited Red-fruited Mulberry; with fruit of a pale-red colour. 2. M. R. HETEROPHYLLA. leaves unlike. Various-leaved Red-fruited Mulberry; with all the 3. M. R. RIPARIA. River-bank-inhabiting Red-fruited Mulberry; Water Mulberry, Wild Black Mulberry, of the Pennsylvanians. This variety differs from the species in having longer petioles, ovate, deeply cordate leaves, which are seldom laterally lobed, quite smooth, and thin, crenate, serrate, acute, but neither acuminate nor oblique at the base. It forms a handsome tree, growing on the banks of the Susquehannah, in the Alleghany Mountains. The leaves are from three to five inches long; and the fruit is of a dark-red. 4. M. R. CANADENSIS. Canadian Red-fruited Mulberry; called Rock Mulberry, when growing on rocky steeps. The leaves of this variety are ovate, oblique, rounded at the base, but not cordate, serrate, acuminate, and smooth. It is a native of Canada, the northern parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and the Alleghany Mountains. 5. M. R. PARVIFOLIA. Small-leaved Red-fruited Mulberry; called Indian Mulberry, by the inhabitants of the Alleghanies. The leaves of this variety are from one to two inches long, are smooth, ovate, acute or obtuse, not lobed, equally sub-crenate, truncate at the base, often oblique, and supported by long, slender petioles. The fruit is very small, oblong-ovate, of a very pale-red colour, and sweet taste. It is a native of the Alleghany and Apalachian Mountains, and is said to have been cultivated by the Indians. Geography and History. The Morus rubra is found near the northern extremity of Lake Champlain, and at the head of Lake Winnipisiogee, which may be assumed as the northern limits of this tree. As a temperate climate is favourable to its increase, as we progress southward it becomes more multiplied; but along the Atlantic, it is proportionably less common than many other trees which do not form the mass of the forests. In the lower parts of the southern states, it is much less frequently seen, than at a distance from the ocean, where the soil and vegetable productions wear a different character. It is most frequently met with in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and particularly abounds on the banks of the Wabash, the Illinois, and the Missouri, which is attributable to the superior fertility of the soil. This species was cultivated in Britain, according to Parkinson, early in the XVIIth century. He says, in his "Paradisus," "it grows quickly with us to a large tree," and that "the fruit is long, red, and pleasantly acid." Miller mentions a tree of this species in the garden at Fulham Palace, which, in 1731, had been there many years without producing any fruit; but which, at some seasons, bore a great number of catkins, much like those of the hazel-nut; which caused Ray to give it the name of Corylus. Almost the only plants of the Morus rubra, of much magnitude, in the environs of London, are those mentioned by Mr. Loudon, as growing in the garden of the Horticultural Society, and in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, at Hackney. In 1836, these trees were from eight to sixteen feet high. In France, in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, there is a tree of this species, which, in fifty years after planting, had attained the height of forty-five feet, with a trunk a foot and a half in diameter, and an ambitus or spread of branches of thirty-eight feet. In Italy, at Monza, there is a Morus rubra, which, in sixty years after planting, had attained the height of twenty-six feet, with a trunk two feet in diameter, and an ambitus of thirty feet. In the Bartram botanic garden, at Kingsessing, near Philadelphia, there is a red mulberry-tree, forty feet in height, with a trunk four feet in circumference. Propagation, &c. The Morus rubra, like the white, and black-fruited species, may be propagated from seeds, by cuttings and layers, or by grafting; and, in general, will thrive with similar treatment. Its growth, however, is more slow, and it requires a richer soil, and succeeds best in sheltered valleys, at a considerable distance from the sea. Insects. It has frequently been asserted, and is generally believed, that the leaves of this species are not fed upon by any insect but the silkworm. In Smith and Abbott's work on the "Insects of Georgia," however, a specimen of the red mulberry is given, with the small ermine moth, (Phalæna punctatissima,) feeding on it. Properties and Uses. The perfect wood of the Morus rubra, which is finegrained, and compact, though light, is of a yellowish hue, approaching to lemoncolour. It possesses strength and solidity; and, when properly seasoned, it is almost as durable as that of locust, to which, by many persons, it is esteemed equal. In the dock-yards at Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the more southern ports, it is employed in the construction of both the upper and lower frames of vessels, for knees, floor-timbers, &c.; and is preferred to every other kind of wood for trenails, except that of the locust. In Charleston, South Carolina, it is sometimes selected for the ribs of large boats. It is also used in the parts of the country where it abounds, for the posts of rural fences, which, from their durability, are as much esteemed as those of the locust. As the leaves of this species are thick, rough, and hairy, while young, they are improper for the food of silkworms, which feed with advantage, in a cold climate, only on the Morus alba, or some of its varieties. The red mulberry is well deserving of cultivation, both from its thick and shady foliage, and the agreeable flavour of its dark-red fruit. Derivation. The genus Broussonetia was so named in honour of M. P. N. V. Broussonet, a French naturalist, who wrote numerous works on natural history. Generic Characters. Flowers unisexual; those of the two sexes upon distinct plants. Male flowers in pendulous cylindrical catkins; each flower in the axil of the bractea. Calyx shortly tubular, then 4parted. Stamens 4, elastic. Female flowers in peduncled, axillary, upright, globular heads. Calyx tubular, its tip with 3-4 teeth. Ovary within an integument that arises from the bottom of the calyx. Style lateral, prominent. Fruit club-shaped, proceeding from the bottom of the calyx, and extended much beyond its tip; and consisting of the integument in which the ovary was enclosed, and now becomes very juicy; and of a 1-seeded oval utricle, with a crustaceous integument, and enclosed within this juicy integument.-Du Hamel, Traité de Arbres. tinct species. HE genus Broussonetia was constituted by L'Héritier from the Morus papyrifera, and is said to comprise but one species, native of Japan, and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean. It consists of a vigorous-growing shrub or low tree, with large-lobed, hairy leaves, variously shaped, and differing so much from each other on the male and female plants, that they might be easily taken for dis To the same natural order belong the fustic-trees of the tropics, which are more nearly allied to this genus than to morus. They differ from the true mulberries by having the female catkins globular, the flowers distinct, calyx scariose, 4-parted; the sepals unequally obovate, obtuse, the ovary obovate-compressed; the style single, terminal, smooth, filiform, and flexuose; and the fruit a globular, compound berry or syncarpe; whereas the true mori have double styles and stigmas, and oblong fruits. There are several kinds of fustic-trees, which might be formed into a peculiar group, from their baccate seeds. The true fustic of dyers, (Morus tinctoria,) is a large tree, sixty feet in height, bearing sweet, edible fruit, about the size of a nutmeg, and is a native of Central America, Yucatan, Cuba, Jamaica, &c. The whole plant abounds in a slightly glutinous milk, of a sulphureous colour. The wood is yellow, and is much used in dyeing, for which purpose it is chiefly imported into Europe and the United States, under the name of fustic-wood. There is a variety of this species, called Bastard Fustic, a tree smaller in stature, and less valuable as a dye, and is found from Yucatan to the southern parts of Florida and the Bahama Islands. Derivations. The specific name papyrifera is derived from the Latin papyrus, paper, and fero, to bear; referring to the us of the bark of this tree in the manufacture of paper. Most of the other names have the same signification as the botanical one. Engravings. Nouveau Du Hamel, ii., pl. 7; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vii., pl. 228; and the figures below. Specific Characters. Female calyx tubular, 3-4 dentate; style lateral; seed clavate. Leaves 3-5lobed, acuminate, serrated, scabrous. Description. HE Broussonetia papyrifera is a deciduous low tree, or large shrub, usually growing to a height of twenty or thirty feet, with a trunk from ten to twelve inches in diameter; but in favourable situations, it sometimes attains nearly double of these dimensions. Its trunk ramifies at a small height above the ground, into numerous branches, which form a wide, though regular summit. The bark of the trunk, when young, is rather smooth, and of a grayish colour. Its leaves are large, hairy, and canescent; and are either heartshaped, ovate, acuminate, or cut into deep, irregular lobes. The flowers, which appear at New York early in May, before the leaves, are succeeded by an oblong, dark, scarlet-coloured fruit, of a sweetish, but rather insipid taste, when ripe, which occurs at New York, in July or August. Varieties. The varieties recognized under this species are as follows: 1. B. P. CUCULLATA, Loudon. Cowled-leaved Paper Mulberry; a sport, found on a male plant by M. Camuset, foreman of the nursery, in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, with leaves curved upwards, like the hood of a Capuchin, or the sides of a boat. 2. B. P. FRUCTU ALBO, Loudon. White-fruited Paper Mulberry. Geography and History. The Broussonetia papyrifera, is a native of China, Japan, and Polynesia, and is now cultivated, as an ornamental tree throughout the chief countries of Europe, and in most of the states of the American union. This tree was introduced into Britain, from Japan, by Mr. Peter Colinson, in 1751; and specimens varying from ten to thirty feet in height, are to be met with in most of the gardens and collections in England and Scotland. Both the male and female plant have long been cultivated in the London Horti |
