Mulberry Tree (Morus) is a genus of species of deciduous trees native to warm, temperate, and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and The Americas, with the majority of the species native to Asia.
The closely related genus Broussonetia is also commonly known as mulberry, notably the Paper Mulberry Broussonetia papyrifera.
Mulberries are fast-growing when young, but soon become slow-growing and rarely exceed 10-15 m tall.
The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, often lobed, more often lobed on juvenile shoots than on mature trees, and serrated on the margin. The fruit is a multiple fruit, 2-3 cm long.
Mulberries begin as white to pale yellow with pink edges.
They are red when ripening. A fully ripened mulberry is dark purple to black, edible, and sweet with a good flavor in several species.
Species of the Mulberry Tree:
The taxonomy of Morus is complex and disputed.
Over 150 species names have been published, but only 10-16 are generally cited as being accepted, though different sources cite different selections of accepted names.
The classification is also complicated by widespread hybridisation, with the hybrids being fertile.
The following species are generally accepted:
Morus alba (White Mulberry; eastern Asia)
Morus australis (Chinese Mulberry; southeastern Asia)
Morus celtidifolia (Mexico)
Morus insignis (South America)
Morus mesozygia (African Mulberry; southern and central Africa)
Morus microphylla (Texas Mulberry; south central North America: Texas, Mexico)
Morus nigra (Black Mulberry; southwest Asia)
Morus rubra (Red Mulberry; eastern North America)
The following, all from eastern and southern Asia, are additionally accepted by one or more taxonomic lists or studies; synonymy as given by other lists or studies is indicated in brackets:
Morus atropurpurea
Morus bombycis (M. australis)
Morus cathayana
Morus indica (M. alba)
Morus japonica (M. alba)
Morus kagayamae (M. australis)
Morus latifolia (M. alba)
Morus liboensis
Morus macroura (M. alba var. laevigata)
Morus mongolica (M. alba var. mongolica)
Morus multicaulis (M. alba)
Morus notabilis
Morus rotundiloba
Morus serrata (Himalayan Mulberry; M. alba var. serrata)
Morus tillaefolia
Morus trilobata (M. australis var. trilobata)
Morus wittiorum.
Uses and cultivation of the Mulberry Tree:
The ripe fruit is edible and is widely used in pies, tarts, wines and cordials.
The fruit of the Black Mulberry, native to southwest Asia, and the Red Mulberry, native to eastern North America, have the strongest flavour. The fruit of the White Mulberry, an east Asian species which is extensively naturalised in urban regions of eastern North America, has a different flavour, sometimes characterised as insipid.
The mature fruit contains significant amounts of resveratrol. Unripe fruit and green parts of the plant have a white sap that is intoxicating and mildly hallucinogenic.[1]
Black, red and white Mulberry are widespread in Northern India, Armenia, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, where the tree and the fruit are known by the Persian-derived names Toot (Mulberry) or Shahtoot (King's or "Superior" Mulberry).
Jams and sherbets are often made from the fruit in this region. Black mulberry was imported to Britain in the 17th century in the hope that it would be useful in the cultivation of silkworms.
It was much used in folk medicine.
Mulberry leaves, particularly those of the White Mulberry, are ecologically important as the sole food source of the silkworm (Bombyx mori, named after the Mulberry genus Morus), the pupa/cocoon of which is used to make silk.
Other Lepidoptera larvae also sometimes feed on the plant including Common Emerald, Lime Hawk-moth and The Sycamore.
Mulberries can be grown from seed, and this is often advised as seedling-grown trees are generally of better shape and health. But they are most often planted from large cuttings, which take root readily.
Anthocyanins from mulberry fruits:
Anthocyanins are edible pigments which hold potential use as natural food colourants.
As the safety of synthetic pigments are doubted and in the wake of increasing demand for natural food colourants their significance in food industry increase.
Anthocyanins are reported to yield attractive colours such as orange, red and blue. Since they are water-soluble, they are easily incorporated into aqueous food systems.
Anthocyanins also possess an antioxidant property and improve visual acuity.
They also have antineoplastic, radiation-protective, vasotonic, vasoprotective, anti-inflammatory, chemo and hepato-protective properties.
Paralumun New Age Village