Morus (plant)
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 Ripe mulberry on tree
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Morus or Mulberry is a genus of 10 - 16 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.
Description
Moraceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mulberry or fig family. It comprises about 40 genera and over 1000 species of plants widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less common in temperate climates. The only synapomorphy within Moraceae is presence of lactifers and milky sap in all parenchymatous tissues, but generally useful field characters include 2 carpels sometimes with 1 reduced, compound inconspicuous flowers, and compound fruits.[1] Included are well-known plants such as the fig, banyan, breadfruit, mulberry, and osage-orange. The 'flowers' of Moraceae are often pseudanthia (reduced inflorescences).
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 or green 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.
Silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of various species of moths that produce silk cocoons which can be used in production of silk, and, in particular, the caterpillar of Bombyx mori the domesticated silkmoth.
Silkworm species vary in terms of the quality of silk they produce and the leaves they consume. Bombyx mori (Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree") of the of the Bombycidae family feeds solely on the leaves of mulberry trees and produces the finest, most lustrous fiber—the major source of commercial silk.
The caterpillars feed on leaves of mulberry trees, with the preferred food being the white mulberry. Adults in the Bombycidae family have reduced mouth parts and do not feed.
Species
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:
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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:
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Uses and cultivation
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.[2]
Black, red and white Mulberry are widespread in Northern India, Azerbaijan, 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, especially in the treatment of ringworm.
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 for health benefits[3] and as natural food colorants. As the safety of synthetic pigments is doubted and in the wake of increasing demand for natural food colorants, their significance in food industry is increasing. Anthocyanins are reported to yield attractive colors such as orange, red, purple, black and blue. Since they are water-soluble, they are easily incorporated into aqueous food systems.
Anthocyanins also possess an antioxidant property and are being investigated for antineoplastic, radiation-protective, vasotonic, vasoprotective, anti-inflammatory, chemopreventive and hepato-protective properties.
A cheap and industrially feasible method to purify anthocyanins from mulberry fruit which could be used as a red food colorant of high color value (of above 100) has been established[citation needed]. Scientists found that out of 31 Chinese mulberry cultivars tested, the total anthocyanin yield varied from 148 mg to 2725 mg per litre of fruit juice. Total sugars, total acids and vitamins remained intact in the residual juice after removal of anthocyanins and that the residual juice could be fermented in order to produce products such as juice, wine and sauce.
Worldwide, mulberry is grown for its fruit. In traditional and folk medicine, the fruit is believed to have medicinal properties and is used for making jam, wine, and other food products. As the genera Morus has been domesticated over thousands of years and constantly been subjected to heterosis breeding (mainly for improving leaf yield), it is possible to evolve breeds suitable for berry production, thus offering possible industrial use of mulberry as a source of anthocyanins for functional foods or food colorants which could enhance the overall profitability of sericulture.
Anthocyanin content depends on climate, area of cultivation and is particularly higher in sunny climates[citation needed]. This finding holds promise for tropical sericulture countries to profit from industrial anthocyanin production from mulberry through anthocyanin recovery.
This offers a challenging task to the mulberry germplasm resources for
- exploration and collection of fruit yielding mulberry species
- their characterization, cataloguing 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.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Judd et al. (2008)
- ↑ Erowid Mulberry Vault : Hallucinogenic properties
- ↑ Gross PM. Scientists zero in on health benefits of berry pigments, Natural Products Information Center, July, 2007. [1]
- Zhao Weiguo, Pan Yile, Zhang Zhifang Jia Shihai, Miao Xuexia & Huang Yongping. 2005. Phylogeny of the genus Morus. African Journal of Biotechnology 4 (6): 563-569 Online (pdf file)
External links
- Flora of China: Morus
- Flora of North America: Morus
- University of Melbourne: Sorting Morus names
- Museum of Cape Town: Moraceae
- Information on mulberry, silkworms and sericulture
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