Morus nigra

{{Speciesbox

| image = Illustration_Morus_nigra0.jpg

| image_caption = Plate from book: Flora of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (1885)

| genus = Morus

| species = nigra

| authority = L.

}}

{{Nutritional value

| name= Mulberries, raw

| kJ=180

| protein=1.44 g

| fat=0.39 g

| satfat=0.27 g

| transfat=

| monofat=0.041 g

| polyfat=0.207 g

| carbs=9.8 g

| fiber=1.7 g

| sugars=8.1

| calcium_mg=39

| iron_mg=1.85

| magnesium_mg=18

| phosphorus_mg=38

| potassium_mg=194

| sodium_mg=10

| zinc_mg=0.12

| vitA_ug=1

| vitA_iu=25

| vitC_mg=36.4

| thiamin_mg=0.029

| riboflavin_mg=0.101

| niacin_mg=0.62

| vitB6_mg=0.05

| folate_ug=6

| choline_mg=12.3

| vitE_mg=0.87

| vitK_ug=7.8

| tryptophan=

| threonine=

| isoleucine=

| leucine=

| lysine=

| methionine=

| cystine=

| phenylalanine=

| tyrosine=

| valine=

| arginine=

| histidine=

| alanine=

| aspartic acid=

| glutamic acid=

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| serine=

| source_usda = 1

| note=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160309055501/https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?qlookup=09190&format=Full Link to USDA Database entry]

}}

Morus nigra, the black mulberry,{{GRIN | accessdate = 21 December 2017}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae that is native to southwestern Asia, where it has been cultivated for so long that its precise natural range is unknown.{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|pages=1136}} The black mulberry is known for its large number of chromosomes.

Description

Morus nigra is a deciduous tree growing to {{convert|12|m|ft|0|abbr=off}} tall by {{convert|15|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} broad. The leaves are {{convert|10|-|20|cm|0|abbr=off}} long by {{convert|6|-|10|cm|0|abbr=on}} broad{{Snd}}up to {{convert|23|cm|0|abbr=on}} long on vigorous shoots, downy on the underside, the upper surface rough with very short, stiff hairs. Each somatic cell has 308 chromosomes in total, and exhibits tetratetracontaploidy (44x), meaning that its genome contains seven chromosomes, and each somatic cell has 44 copies of each.{{cite journal |last1=Zeng |first1=Q |last2=Chen |first2=H |date=2015 |title=Definition of Eight Mulberry Species in the Genus Morus by Internal Transcribed Spacer-Based Phylogeny. |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=e0135411 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1035411Z |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0135411 |pmc=4534381 |pmid=26266951 |doi-access=free}}

The fruit is a compound cluster of several small drupes that are dark purple, almost black when ripe, and they are {{convert|2.5|cm|abbr=on|frac=4}} in diameter.{{Cite web |title=Morus nigra Black Mulberry PFAF Plant Database |url=https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?latinname=Morus+nigra |access-date=2022-05-15 |website=Plants for a Future}} Black mulberry is richly flavoured, similar to the red mulberry (Morus rubra) rather than the more insipid fruit of the white mulberry{{cite book |first=James A.|last= Duke |date=1983 |chapter=Morus alba L., Moraceae: White mulberry, Russian mulberry, Silkworm mulberry, Moral blanco |url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/morus_alba.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028142858/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/morus_alba.html |archive-date=2012-10-28 |access-date=8 March 2020 |title=Handbook of Energy Crops |publisher=Purdue University}} (Morus alba). Mulberry fruit color derives from anthocyanins.{{Cite journal |vauthors=Liu X, Xiao G, Chen W, Xu Y, Wu J |date=2004 |title=Quantification and purification of mulberry anthocyanins with macroporous resins |journal=Journal of Biomedicine & Biotechnology |volume=2004 |issue=5 |pages=326–331 |doi=10.1155/S1110724304403052 |pmc=1082888 |pmid=15577197 |doi-access=free}}

Sometimes other mulberry species are confused with black mulberry, particularly black-fruited individuals of the white mulberry. Black mulberry may be distinguished from the other species by the uniformly hairy lower surface of its leaves.{{cite book |author1=Nelson, G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Ai2AwAAQBAJ |title=Trees of Eastern North America |author2=Earle, C.J. |author3=Spellenberg, R. |author4=More, D. |author5=Hughes, A.K. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2014 |isbn=9781400852994 |page=408}}

Cultivation and uses

Black mulberries (Morus nigra) are thought to have originated in the mountainous areas of Mesopotamia and Persia (i.e. Armenian highlands). Black mulberry is planted, and often naturalised, west across much of Europe, including Ukraine, and east into China. Now they are widespread throughout Armenia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

The fruit is edible and the tree has long been cultivated for this property. Both the tree and the fruit are known by the Persian-derived names toot (mulberry) or shahtoot (شاه توت) (king's or "superior" mulberry), or, in Arabic, as shajarat tukki. Often, jams and sherbets are made from the fruit in this region.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

The fruit has been present in the Southern Levant since antiquity. In the Books of Maccabees, it is noted that the Greeks used the fruit to provoke their war elephants in preparation for battle against Jewish rebels during the Maccabean Revolt in the 2nd century BCE. The fruit is also mentioned in the Mishnah and later rabbinic texts. In the 9th century CE, Al-Kindi referenced the fruit as having healing seeds, while Ibn Badis, writing in the 11th century, noted its use in the production of ink.{{Cite journal |last1=Fuks |first1=Daniel |last2=Amichay |first2=Oriya |last3=Weiss |first3=Ehud |date=2020 |title=Innovation or preservation? Abbasid aubergines, archaeobotany, and the Islamic Green Revolution |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12520-019-00959-5 |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |language=en |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=50 |doi=10.1007/s12520-019-00959-5 |bibcode=2020ArAnS..12...50F |issn=1866-9557}}

In Europe, the largest-documented local concentration of black mulberries may be found in the vineyards of Pukanec in Slovakia, which contain 470 black mulberry trees.{{cite book |author1=Kristbergsson, K. |author2=Ötles, S. |year=2016 |title=Functional Properties of Traditional Foods |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781489976628 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5cFDAAAQBAJ |page=211}}

The black mulberry was imported into Britain in the 17th century in the hope that it would be useful in the cultivation of silkworms (Bombyx mori). It was unsuccessful in that enterprise because silkworms prefer the white mulberry. However, the plantings have left a legacy of large and old trees in many country house gardens. The cultivars, M. nigra 'Chelsea'{{cite web|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/72578/morus-nigra-chelsea-(f)/details|title=Morus nigra 'Chelsea'|website=RHS|publisher=Royal Horticultural Society|location=London|access-date=10 August 2024}} (Syn. 'King James'), and M. nigra 'Jerusalem'{{cite web|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/227998/morus-nigra-jerusalem-(f)/details|title=Morus nigra 'Jerusalem'|website=RHS|publisher=Royal Horticultural Society|location=London|access-date=10 August 2024}} have been awarded the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society. Both cultivars are female (F) and self-fertile. M. nigra was much used in folk medicine, especially in the treatment of tapeworm.{{multiref2|1={{cite book |last1=Grieve |first1=Margaret |editor1=C. F. Leyel |title=A Modern Herbal | volume= I |edition=Facsimile |date=1971 |orig-date= First published 1931, London: Harcourt, Brace & Company |publisher=Dover Publications |location=New York |isbn=0-486-22798-7 |chapter-url=https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mulcom62.html |chapter=Mulberry, Common |ref=none |url=https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/titlepg.html}}|2={{cite book |last1=Culpeper |first1=Nicholas |title=Culpeper's The Complete Herbal |date=1653 |chapter=The Mulberry-Tree |page=123 |via=Project Gutenberg |edition=New 1850 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49513/49513-h/49513-h.htm|author-link=Nicholas Culpeper |ref=none }}}}