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Genus FICUS, Linn. — Part 1

C. Leaves thick, yellow-green; fruit short stemmed.

(F. aurea) GOLDEN FIG

CC. Leaves thin, dark green, fruit long-stemmed.

(F. populnea) POPLAR-LEAF FIG

The mulberry family comprises 55 genera and 925 species of temperate zone and tropical plants, of which the fig, genus Ficus, includes 600 species. The hemp, important for its fibrous inner bark, and the hop, are well known herbaceous members of the mulberry family. Hemp is a native of Europe and Asia, but has run wild here, and is now in cultivation throughout both temperate zones. Hops are used in the brewing of beer, and in the Old World as well as the New are raised as a staple field crop. The plant is native to both hemispheres.

Botanically, the mulberry family lies between the elms and nettles--strange company, but justified by fundamental characteristics. Three genera of this family have tree forms in America: Morus, the mulberry; Toxylon, the osage orange; and Ficus, the fig. Two native species of mulberry and three exotic species are generally cultivated for their fruit, their wood, and as ornamental trees. Weeping forms are much planted.

I.Genus MORUS, Linn.

Red Mulberry (Morus rubra, Linn.)--Large tree, 60 to 70 feet high, with dense, round head, fibrous roots and milky juice. Bark light brown, reddish, dividing into scaly plates; branches reddish; twigs grey, downy. Wood orange yellow, light, coarse grained, soft, weak, very durable in soil. Buds ovate, blunt, small. Leaves alternate, variable in form, 3 to 5 inches long, broad, acuminate, serrate, very veiny, often lobed and palmately veined; usually rough, blue-green above, pale and pubescent beneath, yellow in early autumn; petioles stout, long. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, variable, in stalked, axillary spikes, staminate flowers with flat, 4-lobed calyx and 4 incurved stamens that spread suddenly and lie flat on calyx, forming a cross as they mature; pistillate flower, a vase-shaped, 4-lobed calyx, with two stigmas protruding. Fruit fleshy calyx lobes, surrounding single seed; whole spike unites to form an aggregate fruit, sweet, juicy, dark purplish red. Preferred habitat, rich well-drained soil. Distribution, western Massachusetts to southern Ontario, Michigan, Nebraska, Kansas; south to Florida and Texas. Uses: Wood used in cooperage and for fencing. A worthy tree for ornament, but rarely planted.

The Chinese mulberry (Morus alba), with white fruit, holds a unique economic position, as its leaves are the chosen food of silkworms. No substitute has ever robbed this tree of its pre-eminence maintained for centuries, in its own field of usefulness. The hardy Russian mulberries are derived from Morus alba.

The red mulberry, discovered in Virginia in great abundance, inflamed the minds of early colonists who counted it one of the chief resources of the colony. A tree "apt to feede Silke-worms to make silke" promised truly "a commoditie not meanely profit-able" in a new colony--made up of gentlemen. A Frenchman, reporting the abundance of these trees, mentions "some so large that one tree contains as many leaves as will feed Silke-wormes that will make as much silk as may be worth five pounds sterling money." But their sanguine hopes were not realised. The red mulberry is no substitute for the white species. Silk culture is still an Old World industry, even though white mulberries grow in this country.

Indians discovered that ropes and a coarse cloth could be woven out of the bast fibre of mulberry bark. The berries have some medicinal properties, and are eagerly devoured by hogs and poultry. The chief value of the tree lies in the durability of its wood, which commends it to the boatbuilder, the cooper, and to the man with fences to build.

One of the mulberry's chief characteristics is its tenacity to life. Its seeds readily germinate, and cuttings strike quickly, whether from roots or stems. Evelyn's instructions for propagating the European mulberry by cuttings are quaint and worth hearing. "They will root infallibly, especially if you twist the old wood a little or at least hack it; though some slit the foot, inserting a stone or grain of an oat to suckle and entertain the plant with moisture."

The Mexican Mulberry (M. celtidifolia, H.B.K.), with small, ovate leaves, somewhat like the hackberry's, and small black fruit, is found from western Texas to Arizona, and follows the mountains to Peru and Ecuador. It is a small tree whose wood furnished the early Indians with bows; and the Mexican often sets it out in his garden, for the inferior fruit is grateful in the hot, dry sections where berries are scarce.

The Black Mulberry (M. nigra), native of Persia, is the one cultivated in Europe for its fruit. It is occasionally grown in California and the Southern States, but is not hardy in the North. It has its name from its dark red, fleshy fruit, as well as its sombre foliage.