Morus macroura Miq.

This species is used for paper making and the wood and leaves are used in dyeing.

Reported to be cultivated in Punjab (Rawalpindi, Lahore etc.) and Abbotabad by Parker (l.c.) and Stewart, (l.c.). It is often grafted on Morus alba and sometimes bears light purple fruits.

Trees 7-12 m tall, d.b.h. 10-20 cm; dioecious. Branchlets pubescent when young. Winter buds ovoid-ellipsoid to ovoid, white pubescent. Stipules small. Petiole 2-4 cm; leaf blade ovate to broadly ovate, 5-15 × 5-9 cm, membranous, abaxially pale green and with short soft hairs along midvein and lateral veins when young, adaxially dark green and with soft hairs along veins, base rounded, ± cordate, or truncate, margin minutely and densely serrate, apex acuminate to shortly acuminate; secondary veins 4-6 on each side of midvein. Male catkins axillary, paired, 4-8 cm; peduncle 1-1.5 cm. Female inflorescences cylindric, 6-12 cm; peduncle 1-1.5 cm. Male flowers: calyx lobes ovate, adaxially pubescent; filament ca. 2.5 mm; anther globose. Female flowers: calyx lobes pubescent; ovary ovoid, declinate, ± compressed, pubescent; style absent; stigma 2-branched, papillate. Syncarp yellowish white when mature, 6-12 cm; achenes ovoid. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Apr-May.

A small to large tree, upto 10 m tall with a dense crown. Trunk c.1.5-2 m in circumference, with grey smooth bark, young shoots long soft hairy. Leaves with 2.5-4.5 cm long, pubescent petiole; lamina ovate or rotundate-ovate, 7-15 (-18) cm long, 3-10 cm broad, 3-5-costate at the rounded to ± cordate base, sparsely pubescent to glabrous, margins finely serrate, shortly acuminate; stipules lanceolate, pubescent. Male catkins 5-10 cm long including a slender c. 1.5 cm long, pubescent peduncle, densely hairy. Male flowers: sepals 4, ciliate on margins; staminal filaments as long as long as sepals. Female catkins cylindric, 5-12 cm long including c. 2 cm long peduncle, pendulous, lax-flowered, almost glabrous. Female flowers: sepals 4, imbricate, thin, outer 2 concave-rotundate., inner ones plane, floccose-ciliate on margins; ovary with elongated, bipartite style, stigmas patent. Sorosis cylindrical, more than 5 cm long, yellowish-white, fleshy, edible, slightly tasteless.

E Xizang, S Yunnan [Bhutan, Indochina, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sikkim, Thailand].

Himalaya (Kumaun to Bhutan), India, Indo-China, W. & S. China.

Distribution: Pakistan India, Nepal, W. & S. China and Indo-China.

1200-1700 m

Fl. & Fr. Per.: March April.

Mountain forests, tropical forests; (300-)1000-1300(-2200) m.

Morus alba Linnaeus var. laevigata Wallich ex Bureau; M. laevigata Wallich ex Brandis; M. macroura var. mawu (Koidzumi) C. Y. Wu & Z. Y. Cao; M. wallichiana Koidzumi; M. wittiorum Handel-Mazzetti var. mawu Koidzumi.