[Broussonetia L'Her; Vent. Tabl. 3: 547. 1799. Not Ortega, 1798.]

Trees, with milky sap, the leaves alternate, petioled, entire, serrate, or 3-5-lobed, 3-nerved at the base. Flowers dioecious, the staminate in cylindric ament-like spikes, the pistillate capitate. Staminate flowers with a deeply 4-cleft perianth, 4 stamens, and a minute rudimentary ovary. Pistillate flowers with an ovoid or tubular 3-4-toothed perianth, a stalked ovary and a 2-cleft style. Head of fruit globular, the drupes red, exserted beyond the persistent perianth. [Name in allusion to the use of the bark in paper-making.]

About 4 species, natives of eastern Asia, the following being the type.

1. Papyrius Papyrifera (L.) Kuntze. Paper Mulberry

Fig. 1553

Morus papyrifera L. Sp. PI. 986. 1753. Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. Tabl. 3: 548. 1799. P. papyrifera Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 629. 1891.

A small tree, sometimes 400 high, the young shoots hirsute-tomentose. Leaves mostly ovate, thin, long-petioled, serrate nearly all around, often deeply 3-lobed, sometimes with a lobe on one side only, as in Sassafras, rarely 5-lobed, rough above, tomentose beneath, 3'-8' long, the sinuses rounded; petioles 1/2'-3' long, hirsute-tomentose, at least when young; spikes of staminate flowers 2-3' long; peduncled; heads of pistillate flowers 1/2'-l' in diameter, stout-peduncled.

Escaped from cultivation, southern New York to Georgia and Missouri. May-June. Otaheite Mulberry. Cut-paper.

Ficus Carica L., the Fig, a shrub with deeply lobed leaves and hollow pear-shaped receptacles lined with minute imperfect flowers, is occasionally spontaneous or persistent after cultivation from Virginia and West Virginia to Florida and Texas.