Mulberry

Mulberry, a group of trees belonging to the genus Movus and the allied Bronssonetia in the order Moraoeae, a group of the Incompletas (q.v.), allied to the nettle, hemp, and elm families. M. nigra, the black mulberry, mainly cultivated for its fruit, is perhaps a native of Armenia, but was early introduced into Greece, where its leaves are still used for feeding silkworms. It was perhaps introduced into England from Lombardy during the reign of Edward VI. The Asiatic species, M. alba, the white mulberry, of which there are numerous varieties, mostly with white fruit, is that mainly cultivated in Japan, China, India, and Italy, for the silkworm. The fibrous inner bark of Bronssonetia papyrifera, the paper mulberry, is made into paper by the Chinese and Japanese, and into tapa cloth in the South Sea Islands. Mulberries are easily propagated even by large woody cuttings. The so-called fruit is formed from a whole cluster {raceme') of flowers, the perianth-leaves of each of which becomes fleshy, turn colour, and sweeten while they enlarge until they meet those of the other flowers, enclosing the true fruits, small dry capsules. [Inpruitescence.]