Morus

Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10-16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries. They are native to warm temperate and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Europe, 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.

Mulberries are swift-growing when young, but soon become slow-growing and rarely exceed 10–15 m (33–49 ft) 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 (0.79–1.2 in) long. The fruits when immature are white or green to pale yellow with pink edges. In most species the fruits are red when they are ripening turning dark purple to black and have a sweet flavor. The fruits of the white-fruited cultivar of the white mulberry are green when young and white when ripe; the fruit in this cultivar is also sweet but has a very mild flavor compared with the darker variety.

Species

The taxonomy of Morus is complex and disputed. Over 150 species names have been published, and although differing sources may cite different selections of accepted names, only 10–16 are generally cited as being accepted by the vast majority of botanical authorities. Morus classification is even further complicated by widespread hybridisation, wherein the hybrids are fertile.

The following species are generally accepted:

* Morus alba L. – White Mulberry (E Asia)
* Morus australis Poir. – Chinese Mulberry (SE Asia)
* Morus celtidifolia Kunth (Mexico)
* Morus insignis (S America)
* Morus mesozygia Stapf – African Mulberry (S and C Africa)
* Morus microphylla – Texas Mulberry (Mexico, Texas (USA))
* Morus nigra L. – Black Mulberry (SW Asia)
* Morus rubra L. – Red Mulberry (E N America)

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 square brackets:

* Morus atropurpurea
* Morus bombycis [M. australis]
* Morus cathayana
* Morus indica [M. alba]
* Morus japonica [M. alba]
* Morus kagayamae [M. australis]
* Morus laevigata [M. alba var. laevigata; M. macroura]
* Morus latifolia [M. alba]
* Morus liboensis
* Morus macroura [M. alba var. laevigata]
* Morus mongolica [M. alba var. mongolica]
* Morus multicaulis [M. alba]
* Morus notabilis
* Morus rotundiloba
* Morus serrata [M. alba var. serrata], Himalayan mulberry
* Morus tillaefolia
* Morus trilobata [M. australis var. trilobata]
* Morus wittiorum

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 flavor. The fruit of the white mulberry, an east Asian species which is extensively naturalized in urban regions of eastern North America, has a different flavor, sometimes characterized as insipid.[citation needed] The mature plant contains significant amounts of resveratrol, particularly in stem bark.The fruit and leaves are sold in various forms as nutritional supplements. Unripe fruit and green parts of the plant have a white sap that is intoxicating and mildly hallucinogenic.

Black, red, and white mulberry are widespread in Northern India, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, 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 root readily.

The tree branches pruned during the fall season (after the leaves have fallen) are cut and used to make very durable baskets which are used in a lot of village jobs related to agriculture and animal husbandry.

Anthocyanins from mulberry fruits

Anthocyanins are pigments which hold potential use as dietary modulators of mechanisms for various diseases[4][5] and as natural food colorants. Due to increasing demand for natural food colorants, their significance in the food industry is increasing. Anthocyanins are responsible for the attractive colors of fresh plant foods, producing colors such as orange, red, purple, black, and blue. They are water-soluble and easily extractable.

A cheap and industrially feasible method to purify anthocyanins from mulberry fruit which could be used as a fabric tanning agent or food colorant of high color value (of above 100) has been established. Scientists found that out of 31 Chinese mulberry cultivars tested, the total anthocyanin yield varied from 148 mg to 2725 mg per liter of fruit juice.[6] 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 hybridize 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.[7] 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, cataloging, 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.

Popular culture

The nursery rhyme Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush uses the tree in the refrain, as do some contemporary American versions of the nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel.

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

The Vaccinium vitis-idaea – often called lingonberry and also called cowberry (UK), foxberry, quailberry, mountain cranberry, red whortleberry, lowbush cranberry, mountain bilberry, partridgeberry[1] (in Newfoundland and Cape Breton in Canada), and redberry (in Labrador in Canada) – is a small evergreen shrub in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bears edible fruit.

It is seldom cultivated, but the fruits are commonly collected in the wild. The native habitat is the circumboreal forests of northern Eurasia and North America, extending from temperate into subarctic climates.

Varieties

There are two very similar regional varieties of Vaccinium vitis-idaea in Eurasia and North America:

* Vaccinium vitis-idaea var. vitis-idaea L., Eurasia. Leaves 10–25 mm long.
* Vaccinium vitis-idaea var. minus Lodd., North America. Leaves 7–20 mm long.

Morphology

Lingonberry shrubs of both varieties are typically 10–40 cm in height and have a compact habit. They prefer some shade (as from a forest canopy) and constantly moist, acidic soil. Nutrient-poor soils are tolerated but not alkaline soils. They are extremely hardy, tolerating −40 °C or lower, but grow poorly where summers are hot.

The plant is only semi-woody but keeps its leaves all winter even in the coldest years, unusual for a broadleaf plant, though they are usually protected from severe cold by snow cover. The plant spreads by underground rhizomes. The bell-shaped white flowers are produced in the early summer. The fruit, actually a false berry, is red and acidic, ripening in late summer to autumn.

The species resembles the related and similar cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus, V. microcarpum and V. macrocarpon), differing mainly in having white (not pink) flowers, with the petals partially enclosing the stamens and stigma (the petals are reflexed backwards in cranberries), and rounder, less pear-shaped berries. Other related plants in the genus Vaccinium include blueberries, bilberries, and huckleberries.

Etymology

The name "lingonberry" originates from the Swedish word lingon for the native Lingonberry. Because the names mountain cranberry and lowbush cranberry perpetuate the longstanding confusion between the cranberry and the lingonberry, some botanists have suggested that these names should be avoided.

Uses

Lingonberries collected in the wild are a popular fruit in northern, central and eastern Europe, notably in Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. In some areas they can legally be picked on both public and private lands in accordance with the freedom to roam.

The berries are quite tart, so they are almost always cooked and sweetened before eating in the form of lingonberry jam, compote, juice, or syrup. The raw fruits are also frequently simply mashed with sugar, which preserves most of their nutrients and flavor and even enables storing them at room temperature (in closed but not necessarily sealed containers), but in this condition, they are best preserved frozen. Lingonberries served this way or as compote often accompany game meats and liver dishes. In Sweden and Norway, caribou and deer steak is traditionally served with gravy and lingonberry sauce. Lingonberry preserve is commonly eaten with meatballs and potatoes in Sweden and Norway, and also with pork. In Sweden and Russia, when sugar was still a luxury item, lingonberries were usually preserved simply by putting them whole into bottles of water. This was known as vattlingon (watered lingonberries); the procedure preserved them until next season. This was also a home remedy against scurvy. In Russia this preserve had been known as "lingonberry water" (брусничная вода) and is a traditional soft drink. In Russian folk medicine, lingonberry water was used as a mild laxative. A traditional Finnish dish is sautéed reindeer (poronkäristys) with mashed potatoes and lingonberries, either cooked or raw with sugar. In Finland, lingonberry-porridge is also very popular. In Poland, lingonberries are often mixed with pears to create a sauce served with poultry or game. Lingonberries can also be used to replace red currants when creating Cumberland sauce to give it a more sophisticated taste.

Lingonberries are also popular as a wild picked fruit in Canada in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, where they are locally known as partridgeberries. In this region they are also incorporated into jams, syrups, and baked goods.

Lingonberries are a staple item in Sweden, and at the Swedish retailer IKEA. It is often sold as jam and juice in the store and as a key ingredient in dishes. Lingonberries are used to make Lillehammer berry liqueur, and in East-European countries, lingonberry vodka is sold.

Lingonberries are an important food for bears and foxes. Caterpillars of the Coleophoridae case-bearer moths Coleophora glitzella, Coleophora idaeella and Coleophora vitisella are not known to eat anything but lingonberry leaves.

Nutritional properties

Lingonberries contain plentiful organic acids, vitamin C, provitamin A (as beta carotene), B vitamins (B1, B2, B3), and the elements potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. In addition to these healthful nutrients, Lingonberries also contain phytochemicals that are thought to counteract urinary-tract infections, and the seeds are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Lingonberries are used in herbal medicine.[citation needed] In pre-modern times, the berries were of major use in keeping people healthy in Sweden through the long winters, when fresh vegetables were not available. A coarse porridge with fat, salt, pork, and lingonberry preserve was a classic meal of the winter, and a large crock of the berries preserved with sugar would be found in every larder. Owing to their high content of benzoic acid, they have the boiling sensation.

Viburnum lentago

Viburnum lentago (Nannyberry, Sheepberry, or Sweet Viburnum) is a species of Viburnum native to the northeastern and midwestern United States, and in southern Canada from New Brunswick west to southeastern Saskatchewan. Isolated populations are found in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Appalachian Mountains as far south as Kentucky and Virginia.

It is a large shrub or small tree growing to 9 m tall with a trunk up to 25 cm diameter and a short trunk, round-topped head, pendulous, flexible branches. The bark is reddish- to grayish-brown, and broken into small scales. The twigs are pale green and covered with rusty down at first, later becoming dark reddish brown, sometimes glaucous, smooth, tough, flexible, and produce an offensive odor when crushed or bruised. The winter buds are light red, covered with pale scurfy down, protected by a pair of opposing scales. Flower-bearing buds are 2 cm long, obovate, long pointed; other terminal buds are acute, 10–15 mm long, while lateral buds are much smaller. The bud scales enlarge with the growing shoot and often become leaf-like.

Like all viburnums, the leaves are arranged in opposite pairs on the twigs; they are oval, 5-10 cm long and 2-5 cm broad, wedge-shaped, rounded or subcordate at base, with an acuminate apex and a finely serrated margin, and a winged petiole. They open from the bud involute, bronze green and shining, hairy and downy; when full grown are bright green and shining above, pale green and marked with tiny black dots beneath. In autumn they turn a deep red, or red and orange.

The flowers are small, 5-6 mm diameter, with five whitish petals, arranged in large round terminal cymes 5-12 cm diameter; flowering is in late spring. The calyx is tubular, equally five-toothed, persistent; the corolla is equally five-lobed, imbricate in the bud, cream-white, one-quarter of an inch across; lobes acute, and slightly erose. There are five stamens, inserted on the base of the corolla, alternate with its lobes, exserted; filaments slender; anthers bright yellow, oblong, introrse, versatile, two-celled; cells opening longitudinally. The pistil has a one-celled inferior ovary, the style thick, short, light green, and the stigma broad; there is one ovule in each cell. The fruit is a small round blue-black drupe, 8-16 mm long on a reddish stem; it is thick skinned, sweet and rather juicy, and edible. The stone is oblong oval, flattened.

The roots are fibrous, wood is ill-smelling. It grows in wet soil along the borders of the forest, often found in fence corners and along roadsides. The wood is dark orange brown, heavy, hard, close-grained, with a density of 0.7303.

The Sheepberry is one of the largest of the Viburnums. It is admired for its compact habit, its lustrous foliage which insects rarely disfigure, its beautiful and abundant flowers, its handsome edible fruit and its brilliant autumnal color. It readily adapts itself to cultivation, and is one of the best of the small trees of eastern America for the decoration of parks and gardens in all regions of extreme winter cold. It is easily raised from seeds which, like those of the other American species, do not germinate until the second year after they are planted.

Uses

As suggested by the alternative name Sweet Viburnum, the fruit is (unlike that of many Viburnums) edible. The bark and leaves were also used by Native Americans in the preparation of herbal medicines.

It has been hybridized with Viburnum prunifolium in gardens to give the hybrid Viburnum × jackii

Thimbleberry

Rubus parviflorus (Thimbleberry) is a species of Rubus, native to western and northern North America, from Alaska east to Ontario and Michigan,and south to northern Mexico. It grows from sea level in the north, up to 2,500 m altitude in the south of the range.

It is a dense shrub up to 2.5 meters tall with canes no more than 1.5 centimeters in diameter, often growing in large clumps which spread through the plant's underground rhizome. Unlike most other members of the genus, it has no prickles. The leaves are palmate, up to 20 centimeters across, with five lobes; they are soft and fuzzy in texture. The flowers are 2 to 6 centimeters in diameter, with five white petals and numerous pale yellow stamens. The flower of this species is among the largest of any Rubus species, making its Latin species name parviflorus ("small-flowered") a misnomer.It produces a tart edible composite fruit around a centimeter in diameter, which ripen to a bright red in mid to late summer. Like other raspberries it is not a true berry, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. The drupelets may be carefully removed separately from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit which bears a resemblance to a thimble, perhaps giving the plant its name.

The species typically grows along roadsides, railroad tracks, and in forest clearings, commonly appearing as an early part of the ecological succession in clear cut and forest fire areas.

Ecology
Thimbleberry is found in forest understories with typical flora associates including Coastal woodfern, Dryopteris arguta, Trillium ovatum and Smilacina racemosa.

Uses

Thimbleberry fruits are larger, flatter, and softer than raspberries, and have many small seeds. Because the fruit is so soft, it does not pack or ship well, so thimbleberries are rarely cultivated commercially. However, wild thimbleberries make an excellent jam which is sold as a local delicacy in some parts of their range, notably in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. Thimbleberry jam is easily made by combining equal volumes of berries and sugar and boiling the mixture for two minutes before packing it into jars. The fruits can be eaten raw or dried,but they are not always very palatable.Many parts of the plant were used for a great variety of medicinal purposes by Native Americans.

Thimbleberry plants can be propagated most successfully by planting dormant rhizome segments, as well as from seeds or stem cuttings.

A double-flowered form of the thimbleberry was discovered near Squamish, BC, by Iva Angerman (1903-2008) of West Vancouver, BC.This clone does not appear to be in commerce, but is grown in the Botanic Garden of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and in the Native Plant Garden of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria. Another double-flowered thimbleberry was found about 1975 by Bob Hornback on Starrett Hill, Monte Rio, California and given the cultivar name 'Dr. Stasek', after an art instructor at Sonoma State University. This clone is sold by one nursery online.

Cultivars of the plant are used for ornamental purposes, bred for their fragrant flowers and attractive fall foliage

Lansium domesticum

Habit

Lansium domesticum is a medium-sized, single-trunked tree that usually grows from ten to fifteen meters tall.

The plant has pinnately compound leaves that grow to a length of around twenty to fifty centimeters long per leaf. Each fully-grown leaf has five to seven slightly-leathery, obovate leaflets that can reach a length of twenty centimeters each. A very prominent midrib bisects each dark green, glossy leaflet.

Flowers

L. domesticum flowers are hermaphrodite, having both stamen and pistil structures in the same flower. The pale-yellow, fleshy flowers are found in inflorescences of around thirty blossoms, in most cases in a raceme usually around thirty centimeters long.

Fruit

Fruits are ovoid, roundish orbs around five centimeters in diameter, usually found in clusters of two to thirty fruits along the branches and trunk. Each round fruit is covered by yellowish, thick, leathery skin. Underneath the skin, the fruit is divided into five or six slices of translucent, juicy flesh. The flesh is slightly acidic in taste, although ripe specimens are sweeter. Green seeds are present in around half of the segments, usually taking up a small portion of the segment although some seeds take up the entire segment's volume. In contrast with the sweet-sour flavor of the fruit's flesh, the seeds are extremely bitter. The fruit taste has been compared to a combination grape and "perfect" grapefruit with no bitterness. Yet the seeds if bitten have the bitterness of a grapefruit yet stronger. The sweet juicy flesh contains sucrose, fructose, and glucose.

Agriculturally, the tree is grown throughout the entire Southeast asian region, ranging from Southern India to the Philippines for its fruit. In the Philippines, where it is locally referred to as the lanzones, the plant is grown mostly on the southern parts of the island of Luzon, especially in Paete, Laguna, due to the species' narrow range of conditions favorable to its survival. It is also found in abundance on Northern Mindanao particularly in places as Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, and Camiguin. The Camiguin variety is especially sweet and succulent.

In Indonesia, Langsat is very popular fruit in West Kalimantan (Pontianak, Indonesia) and South Sumatra (also called 'Duku'). In Sarawak, northern Borneo, the name Duku is reserved for the larger-sized varieties of Langsat, near the size of golf balls, claimed sweeter and with less sap in the peel. A variety called Dokong exported to mainland Malaysia from Thailand grows tighter in the clusters, giving it a faceted shape, and is preferred by many over the standard Langsat.

Within mainland Asia, the tree is cultivated in Thailand (Thai: ลางสาด, langsat), Vietnam and India, as well as its native Malaysia. Outside the region, it has also been successfully transplanted and introduced to Hawaii and Surinam. It grows well in the wetter areas (120 inches/3 meters or more annual rainfall) of Costa Rica, where it is still very rare, having been introduced decades ago by the United Fruit Company. A major hindrance to its acceptance seems to be that it is very slow in bearing, said to take 12 years from seed. However, air layering from mature trees, as well as grafting, are said to work well and produce much faster


Ecology and life history
It grows wild in Sumatra forests where a wide and longest river in Indonesia lay across the southern part of Sumatra. The river rises and floods the forest lands for a few months, when it subsides, the flood leaves plenty of fallen leaves and twigs enriching and moistening a large area of the forest bed, resulting in ideal conditions for the plant to grow naturally. Local people will come and harvest it as natural forest produce. They climb up the tree with ripe fruits (after observing it), holding with their hands on the smaller branches and shaking it. Mature fruits will fall easily down to the ground. They will then collect it and transport it on a small boat on a nearby river to the villages and sell it. In a good year a 20-year old tree can produce 100 kg of fruits, however fruiting is often uneven.

Etymology and taxonomic history

Lansium domesticum is currently classified within the family Meliaceae.

It is known variously as langsat (Malay); lansones , lansa, langseh, langsep, lanzon, lanzone, lansone(Filipino); langsad (for the type of which its skin is quite sticky to the fruit), longkong (for the type of which the skin is easily peeled off without milky latex) (Thai); duku, langsat, kokosan (Indonesian), Gadu Guda (Sri Lanka), lòn bon and bòn bon (Vietnamese).

In certain parts of the Visayas, the fruit is called buwa-buwa or bowa-bowa, and the tree is called buwahan or bowahan.

Importance to humans
Langsat fruits are usually eaten fresh, but may be canned in syrup. Seedless sections can be dried like raisins, which is done in the Philippines.


Nutritional composition per 100 g langsat fruit Carbohydrate 7.8-14.2 g Protein 0.4-0.7 g Calcium 10-19 mg Phosphorus 20 mg Iron 1 mg Thiamine 0.05 mg Riboflavin 0.02 mg Niacin 0.5 mg Vitamin C 4-13.4 mg

Several parts of the plant have medicinal uses. The fruit peel is dried and burned to repel mosquitoes; it is also used to treat intestinal parasites and diarrhea. Powdered seeds are used to reduce fever, and the bark is used to treat malaria and scorpion stings