Mulberry

Parts Usually Used

Morus alba: Bark of the root, small branches, fruit, and leaves Morus rubra: Bark

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Morus alba: Similar to Red mulberry but the leaves are less hairy and coarsely toothed, often with 3-5 lobes. Fruits are whitish to purple Morus rubra: Red mulberry is a tree that grows to a height of 60-70 feet; the alternate, serrate (heart-shaped) leaves are cordate, rough (sandpapery) on top and soft or hairy beneath, and palmately lobed to simple. Flowers are in tight, drooping clusters.

The purplish-red fruit, not a true berry, is made up of many small drupes. Another variety: Black mulberry (M. nigra) is a European and Asian tree which is also cultivated in the United States, particularly in the South and in California. It grows to 30 feet tall and bears purple to black fruit. Medicinally, its bark is equivalent to that of red mulberry.

Where Found

Morus alba: A native Chinese tree, it is a common ornamental tree in this country. Also, called M. microphylla which grows in Texas. Found in rich woods in Vermont, New York to Florida; Texas, Oklahoma to South Dakota. Morus rubra: Found from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Kansas and Nebraska.

Medicinal Properties

Morus alba: Leaves: diaphoretic, alterative Small branches: antirheumatic, antispasmodic, diuretic, alterative Fruit: blood tonic, nutritive Bark of the root: antitussive, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, diuretic Morus rubra: Anthelmintic

Biochemical Information

Morus alba: Small branches: mulberrin, fructose, glucose, falvonoid, coumarin, arabinose, xylose, stachyose, sucrose Fruit: carotene, vitamins A and C, thamene, riboflavin, tannin, linoleic and stearic acids Bark of root: carotene, succinic acid, adenine, choline, flavonoids, coumarin, amylase Morus rubra: Flavonoids, coumarin, tannins, sugars

Legends, Myths and Stories

Morus alba: About 2700 BC the Chinese began cultivating the white mulberry tree as food for silkworms to produce silk. The secret of the art of silk production was kept in China for about 2,000 years, but around 700 BC the practice spread to other countries, including the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans. According to Chinese legend, the silk industry was started by the beautiful Chinese empress Si Ling-Shi, who, watching a silkworm spin his gossamer cocoon on a mulberry tree in her garden, desired a gown made from the threads off many such cocoons.

She accidentally dropped the cocoon in her tea and it softened, allowing the empress to unwind its threads. Si Ling-Shi got her husband to give her a whole grove of mulberry trees, so that she could get enough threads to weave her gown. Though it took her several years of working long hours with the worms and the cocoons, she finally unwound enough thread to weave the material for the dress.

The Chinese named the material Si for their empress, and silk is still known by that name today in China. Because the prosperous silk industry was so important to the early Chinese people, the mulberry was revered in ancient China as a sacred tree. Some scholars connect it with the fa-sang tree, a symbolic tree of life that appears in the mythology and art of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).

In classical legend the red berries of the mulberry tree acquired their color only after two young Babylonian lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, bled and died under a white-berried mulberry tree. The Pyramus and Thisbe legend is the source of the story of Romeo and Juliet.

Uses

Historically, herbalists utilized the leaves of white mulberry (Morus alba) for colds, flu, and fevers, while the bark and fruit were consumed as food. The small branches were prepared for rheumatic and arthritic pains, particularly in the extremities. Traditional practitioners administered a tea made from the small twigs to address vision, circulation, elevated blood pressure, headaches, and diabetes.

The fruit was traditionally employed as a blood tonic, as well as for anemia, conditions marked by extreme thirst, premature graying of the hair, canker sores, burns, hemorrhoids, dizziness, and insomnia, in addition to constipation associated with aging. Herbal traditions recommended the root bark for lung and bronchiole inflammation, edema, coughs, wheezing, fever, and urinary difficulties.

Topical leaf poultices were historically applied for toothaches and snakebites. Regarding red mulberry (Morus rubra), European folk tradition utilized the bark as a laxative and for tapeworms. Native American traditions made use of the milky sap for ringworm of the scalp, while a tea brewed from the roots was historically consumed for weakness, urinary difficulties, dysentery, and fever.