''Morus'' (plant)

Mulberry
Morus nigra
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Clade:Angiosperms
Clade:Eudicots
Clade:Rosids
Order:Rosales
Family:Moraceae
Tribe:Moreae
Genus:Morus
L.
Species

See text.

Morus, a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, comprises 10–16 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions.[1]

The closely related genus Broussonetia is also commonly known as mulberry, notably the paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera.[2]

Mulberries are fast-growing when young, but soon become slow-growing and rarely exceed 10–15 metres (30–50 ft) tall. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple and often lobed and serrated on the margin. Lobes are more common on juvenile shoots than on mature trees. The trees can be monoecious or dioecious.[3][4] The mulberry fruit is a multiple fruit, approximately 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1 1⁄4 in) long. Immature fruits are white, green, or pale yellow. In most species the fruits turn pink and then red while ripening, then dark purple or black, and have a sweet flavor when fully ripe. The fruits of the white-fruited cultivar are white when ripe; the fruit of this cultivar is also sweet, but has a mild flavor compared with darker varieties.

Species

Long mulberry

The taxonomy of Morus is complex and disputed. Over 150 species names have been published, and although differing sources may cite different selections of accepted names, only 10–16 are generally cited as being accepted by the vast majority of botanical authorities. Morus classification is even further complicated by widespread hybridisation, wherein the hybrids are fertile.

The following species are accepted by the Kew Plant List as of August 2015:[5]

Distribution and cultivation

White mulberry
Mulberry fruit in Libya

Black, red, and white mulberry are widespread in southern Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa and Indian subcontinent, where the tree and the fruit have names under regional dialects. 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, especially in the treatment of ringworm. Mulberries are also widespread in Greece, particularly in the Peloponnese, which in the Middle Ages was known as Morea, deriving from the Greek word for the tree (μουριά, mouria).

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 root readily. The mulberry plants which are allowed to grow tall with a crown height of 1.5 to 1.8 metres (5 to 6 ft) from ground level and a stem girth of 10–13 cm (4–5 in). They are specially raised with the help of well-grown saplings 8–10 months old of any of the varieties recommended for rainfed areas like S-13 (for red loamy soil) or S-34 (black cotton soil) which are tolerant to drought or soil-moisture stress conditions. Usually, the plantation is raised and in block formation with a spacing of 1.8 by 1.8 m (6 by 6 ft), or 2.4 by 2.4 m (8 by 8 ft), as plant to plant and row to row distance. The plants are usually pruned once a year during the monsoon season to a height of 1.5–1.8 m (5–6 ft) and allowed to grow with a maximum of 8–10 shoots at the crown. The leaves are harvested three or four times a year by a leaf-picking method under rain-fed or semiarid conditions, depending on the monsoon. The tree branches pruned during the fall season (after the leaves have fallen) are cut and used to make durable baskets supporting agriculture and animal husbandry.

Some North American cities have banned the planting of mulberries because of the large amounts of pollen they produce, posing a potential health hazard for some pollen allergy sufferers.[6] Actually, only the male mulberry trees produce pollen; this light-weight pollen can be inhaled deeply into the lungs, sometimes triggering asthma.[7][8] Conversely, female mulberry trees produce all-female flowers, which draw pollen and dust from the air. Because of this pollen-absorbing feature, all-female mulberry trees have an OPALS allergy scale rating of just 1 (lowest level of allergy potential), and some consider it "allergy-free".[7]

Mulberry tree scion wood can easily be grafted onto other mulberry trees during the winter, when the tree is dormant. One common scenario is converting a problematic male mulberry tree to an allergy-free female tree, by grafting all-female mulberry tree scions to a male mulberry that has been pruned back to the trunk.[9] However, any new growth from below the graft(s) must be removed, as they would be from the original male mulberry tree.[10]

Uses

The fruit of the white mulberry – an East Asian species extensively naturalized in urban regions of eastern North America – has a different flavor, sometimes characterized as refreshing and a little tart, with a bit of gumminess to it and a hint of vanilla.[11][12] In North America, the white mulberry is considered an invasive exotic and has taken over extensive tracts from native plant species, including the red mulberry.[13]

Mulberry in southern Brazil – known as "amorinha".[14]

The ripe fruit is edible and is widely used in pies, tarts, wines, cordials, and herbal teas. The fruit of the black mulberry (native to southwest Asia) and the red mulberry (native to eastern North America) have the strongest flavor, which has been likened to 'fireworks in the mouth'.[11]

The fruit and leaves are sold in various forms as nutritional supplements. The mature plant contains significant amounts of resveratrol, particularly in stem bark.[15] Unripe fruit and green parts of the plant have a white sap that may be toxic, stimulating, or mildly hallucinogenic.[16]

Raw mulberries
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 180 kJ (43 kcal)
9.8
Sugars 8.1
Dietary fiber 1.7
0.39
1.44
Vitamins Quantity %DV†
Vitamin A equiv.
0%
1 μg
Thiamine (B1)
3%
0.029 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
8%
0.101 mg
Niacin (B3)
4%
0.62 mg
Vitamin B6
4%
0.05 mg
Folate (B9)
2%
6 μg
Vitamin C
44%
36.4 mg
Vitamin E
6%
0.87 mg
Vitamin K
7%
7.8 μg
Minerals Quantity %DV†
Calcium
4%
39 mg
Iron
14%
1.85 mg
Magnesium
5%
18 mg
Phosphorus
5%
38 mg
Potassium
4%
194 mg
Sodium
1%
10 mg
Zinc
1%
0.12 mg
Other constituents Quantity
Water 87.68 g
Link to United States Department of Agriculture Database entry
†Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Nutritional profile

In a 100 g (3.5-oz) serving, raw mulberries provide 180 kJ (43 kcal), 44% of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin C, and 14% of the DV for iron; other nutrients are in insignificant quantity (see table).

Silk industry

A silkworm, Bombyx mori, feeding on a mulberry tree

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 cocoon of which is used to make silk.[17][18] The wild silk moth also eats mulberry.[19][20] Other Lepidoptera larvae—which include the common emerald, lime hawk-moth, sycamore moth, and fall webworm—also eat the plant.[21]

Pigments

Mulberry fruit color derives from anthocyanins, which are under basic research for mechanisms of various diseases.[22][23] Anthocyanins are responsible for the attractive colors of fresh plant foods, including orange, red, purple, black, and blue. These colors are water-soluble and easily extractable, yielding natural food colorants. Due to a growing demand for natural food colorants, their significance in the food industry is increasing.

A cheap and industrially feasible method has been developed to extract anthocyanins from mulberry fruit which could be used as a fabric tanning agent or food colorant of high color value (above 100). Scientists found that, of 31 Chinese mulberry cultivars tested, the total anthocyanin yield varied from 148 to 2725 mg per liter of fruit juice.[24] All the sugars, acids, and vitamins of the fruit remained intact in the residual juice after removal of the anthocyanins, so the juice could be used to produce products such as juice, wine, and sauce.

Anthocyanin content depends on climate and area of cultivation, and is particularly high in sunny climates.[25] This finding holds promise for tropical countries that grow mulberry trees as part of the practice of sericulture to profit from industrial anthocyanin production through the recovery of anthocyanins from the mulberry fruit.

This offers a challenging task to the mulberry germplasm resources for

  • exploration and collection of fruit yielding mulberry species
  • their characterization, cataloging, and evaluation for anthocyanin content by using traditional, as well as modern, means and biotechnology tools
  • developing an information system about these cultivars or varieties
  • training and global coordination of genetic stocks
  • evolving suitable breeding strategies to improve the anthocyanin content in potential breeds by collaboration with various research stations in the field of sericulture, plant genetics, and breeding, biotechnology and pharmacology

Paper

During the Angkorian age of the Khmer Empire of Southeast Asia, monks at Buddhist temples made paper from the bark of mulberry trees. The paper was used to make books, known as kraing.[26]

In culture

Mulberry Tree by Vincent van Gogh, 1889

A Babylonian etiological myth, which Ovid incorporated in his Metamorphoses, attributes the reddish-purple color of the mulberry fruits to the tragic deaths of the lovers Pyramus and Thisbe. Meeting under a mulberry tree (probably the native Morus nigra),[27] Thisbe commits suicide by sword after Pyramus was killed by the lioness because he believed that Thisbe was eaten by her. Their splashed blood stained the previously white fruit, and the gods forever changed the mulberry's colour to honour their forbidden love.[27]

The nursery rhyme "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" uses the tree in the refrain, as do some contemporary American versions of the nursery rhyme "Pop Goes the Weasel".

Vincent van Gogh featured the mulberry tree in some of his paintings, notably Mulberry Tree (Mûrier, 1889, now in Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum). He painted it after a stay at an asylum, and he considered it a technical success.[28]

Fossil record

Fossils of Morus are reported from the Pliocene of the Netherlands.[29]

References

  1. ↑ Suttie JM. "Morus alba L." Food and Agriculture Organization. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  2. ↑ Wunderlin, Richard P. (1997). "Broussonetia papyrifera". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee. Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 3. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  3. ↑ Lamson, Neil I. (1990). "Morus rubra". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. Hardwoods. Silvics of North America. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 2. Retrieved 14 August 2018 – via Southern Research Station (www.srs.fs.fed.us).
  4. ↑ Wu, Zhengyi; Zhou, Zhe-Kun; Gilbert, Michael G. "Morus". Flora of China. 5. Retrieved 21 July 2014 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  5. ↑ "Search for Morus". The Plant List. 2013.
  6. ↑ City of El Paso (July 10, 2007). "Agenda item department head's summary form" (PDF). Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  7. 1 2 Ogren, Thomas Leo (2000). Allergy-Free Gardening. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. ISBN 1580081665.
  8. ↑ Wilson, Charles L. "Tree pollen and hay fever". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  9. ↑ Ogren, Thomas Leo (2003). Safe Sex in the Garden: and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 1580083145.
  10. ↑ Phipps, Nikki. "Can Grafted Trees Revert to Their Rootstock?". Gardening Know How. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  11. 1 2 "which mulberry to buy. advise me!". The Cloudforest Gardener. Archived from the original on 2013-06-08.
  12. ↑ "White Mulberry Extract Supplement". Archived from the original on 2013-09-28.
  13. ↑ Boning, Charles R. (2006). Florida's Best Fruiting Plants: Native and Exotic Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. p. 153.
  14. ↑ "Rubus brasiliensis - Amorinha". FloraSBS (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  15. ↑ Cui XQ, Wang HQ, Liu C, Chen RY (July 2008). " " [Study of antioxidant phenolic compounds from stem barks of Morus yunnanensis]. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi (in Chinese). 33 (13): 1569–72. PMID 18837317.
  16. ↑ "White mulberry – Morus alba". Ohio Perennial and Biennial Weed Guide. The Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 2012-04-12. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  17. ↑ Ombrello, T. "The mulberry tree and its silkworm connection". Plant of the Week. Cranford, NJ: Union County College. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  18. ↑ "Mulberry silk". Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles - Govt of India. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  19. ↑ Bisch-Knaden, Sonja; Daimon, Takaaki; Shimada, Toru; Hansson, Bill S.; Sachse, Silke (January 2014). "Anatomical and functional analysis of domestication effects on the olfactory system of the silkmoth Bombyx mori". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 281 (1774): 20132582. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2582. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 3843842. PMID 24258720.
  20. ↑ Tanaka, Kana; Uda, Yusuke; Ono, Yukiteru; Nakagawa, Tatsuro; Suwa, Makiko; Yamaoka, Ryohei; Touhara, Kazushige (9 June 2009). "Highly Selective Tuning of a Silkworm Olfactory Receptor to a Key Mulberry Leaf Volatile". Current Biology. 19 (11): 881–890. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.04.035. ISSN 0960-9822.
  21. ↑ Tang, Rui; Zhang, Feng; Zhang, Zhong-Ning (June 2016). "Electrophysiological Responses and Reproductive Behavior of Fall Webworm Moths (Hyphantria cunea Drury) are Influenced by Volatile Compounds from Its Mulberry Host (Morus alba L.)". Insects. 7 (2): 19. doi:10.3390/insects7020019. ISSN 2075-4450. PMC 4931431. PMID 27153095.
  22. ↑ Wrolstad RE (2001). "The possible health benefits of anthocyanin pigments and polyphenolics". Linus Pauling Institute Research Newsletter. Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
  23. ↑ Hou DX (March 2003). "Potential mechanisms of cancer chemoprevention by anthocyanins". Current Molecular Medicine. 3 (2): 149–59. doi:10.2174/1566524033361555. PMID 12630561.
  24. ↑ Liu X, Xiao G, Chen W, Xu Y, Wu J (2004). "Quantification and Purification of Mulberry Anthocyanins with Macroporous Resins". Journal of Biomedicine & Biotechnology (5): 326–331. doi:10.1155/S1110724304403052. PMC 1082888. PMID 15577197.
  25. ↑ Matus JT, Loyola R, Vega A, et al. (2009). "Post-veraison sunlight exposure induces MYB-mediated transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin and flavonol synthesis in berry skins of Vitis vinifera". Journal of Experimental Botany. 60 (3): 853–67. doi:10.1093/jxb/ern336. PMC 2652055. PMID 19129169.
  26. ↑ Chhem KR, Antelme MR (2004). "A Khmer Medical Text The Treatment of the Four Diseases Manuscript". Siksācakr, Journal of Cambodia Research. 6: 33–42.
  27. 1 2 Reich, Lee (2008). "Morus spp.    mulberry". In Janick, Jules; Paull, Robert E. The Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts. CABI. pp. 504–507. ISBN 9780851996387.
  28. ↑ Gogh, Vincent van (1889). "Mulberry Tree". van Gogh Collection. Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  29. ↑ Martinez Cabrera HI; Cevallos-Ferriz SRS (2006). "Maclura (Moraceae) wood from the Miocene of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico: Fossil and biogeographic history of its closer allies". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 140: 113–122. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2006.03.004.
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