Plant

Mulberry

Morus (genus)

Also known as: Morus

A small genus of deciduous trees in the fig family (Moraceae) — the white mulberry (*Morus alba*) is the foundational tree of the global silk industry, since its leaves are the exclusive food of domesticated silkworms (*Bombyx mori*). Chinese sericulture, building on the *Morus alba* / *Bombyx mori* coevolution, produced one of the most economically and culturally consequential luxury industries in human history — the silk trade that gave the Silk Road its name.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons — see source for license.

Scientific

Morus (family Moraceae) contains around 10–16 species depending on taxonomic accounting. Three principal cultivated:

Morus alba — white mulberry; native to northern China; foundational to silk production
Morus nigra — black mulberry; native to western Asia / Persia; the dessert mulberry of European tradition
Morus rubra — red mulberry; native to eastern North America

The fruit (a multiple aggregate, like [[blackberry|blackberry]] but with a thinner pulp) is edible across all three species — sweet, often dyed-deeply staining, eaten fresh or made into preserves and wines.

Sericulture and historical significance

The single-pairing of Morus alba and Bombyx mori (the domesticated silkworm) is one of the most consequential ecological-economic relationships in human history. Chinese sericulture goes back at least 5,000 years; the silk trade structured the Silk Road, the economies of the Tang and Song dynasties, and (later) Byzantine, Persian, Italian, and French luxury textile production.

The Byzantine smuggling of silkworm eggs from China in the 6th century (in [[the-hollow|the hollow]] staves of monks, according to Procopius) and the later Italian and French silk industries were each attempts to break Chinese sericulture monopoly — successful in production but never matching Chinese silk’s traditional quality.

The trees themselves spread far beyond their native range alongside the silk industry. White mulberry is now naturalized across most temperate continents — and is invasive in much of North America, where it hybridizes with and threatens the native red mulberry.

Global production

The species is now grown as a fruit tree, ornamental, silk-industry tree, and for mulberry-leaf tea (a Japanese and Korean traditional beverage). Top fruit producers: China, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India.

Sources

Wikipedia — Morus (plant)

A plant entry in the 0mn1.one [[directory]].

What links here, and how

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Practical

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Cultural

shares approach with

Bodhi tree auto-linked from body mention

13 inbound links · 8 outbound

Scientific

Sericulture and historical significance

Global production

See also

Sources

What links here, and how