Mulberry

Mulberry: Genus Morus

Ripe mulberry on tree (larger)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Urticales
Family:	Moraceae
Genus:	*Morus*

Morus species

Morus alba - White Mulberry
Morus australis - Chinese Mulberry
Morus indica - Indian Mulberry
Morus nigra - Black Mulberry
Morus rubra - Red Mulberry
Morus serrata - Himalayan Mulberry

Mulberry refers both to the mulberry tree and to the fruit of that tree. It also refers to the closely related Paper Mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera).

The word is also the name of some places in the United States (including Mulberry, Florida and Mulberry, Indiana), as well as the codename for the artificial harbourss constructed off the coast of Normandy after D-Day in 1944.

Description

The mulberry is a multiple fruit growing on small to medium-sized trees. The leaves are simple and often lobed, more often lobed on juvenile shoots than on the mature tree, and toothed on the margin.

The black-reddish fruit is edible and is widely used in some places. The fruit of the Black Mulberry, native to southwest Asia, and the Red Mulberry, native to eastern North America, have the best flavour. The fruit of the White Mulberry, an east Asian species which is extensively naturalized in urban regions of eastern North America, is insipid in flavour.

Economic importance

Mulberries, particularly the White Mulberry, are also economically important as the food source of the silkworm.

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