1291

 

Morus nigra L.

Synonym	:	Morus laciniata Mill.
Family	:	Moraceae
Local name	:	English- Black mulberry
Distribution	:	China, India, Pakistan; Europe; North America: United States of America.
Habitat	:	Deciduous forests and cultivated.
Uses		Fruits are edible
Key botanical characters: Tree up to 10 m tall. Monoecious or dioecious, bark dark brown fissured rough bark. Leaves broadly ovate 6-18 x 7-12 cm across, scabrous above, pubescent beneath, including veinlets, costate from deeply cordate base, margins crenate-dentate, apex acuminate, lateral veins 3-6 on either side of the midvein, petiole hairy 2-4 cm long, stipules lanceolate, hairy, pale brown. Male catkins 0.3-4 cm long, with 0.1 cm long peduncle, calyx lobes free, broadly ovate, deeply concave, hairy. Female flowers oval, calyx broadly elliptic 3-4 cm long, broad, hairy outside, ovary with densely white hairy, divergent styles. Stigmas without mastoidlike protuberance, Sorosis fruit with short peduncle, ovoid oblong, blackish purple when mature.