View source for Moraceae ← Moraceae You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reason: The action you have requested is limited to users in the group: Users. You can view and copy the source of this page. {{Treatment/ID |accepted_name=Moraceae |accepted_authority=Link |publications= |common_names=Mulberry Family |basionyms= |synonyms= |hierarchy=Moraceae |hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Moraceae]]</div></div> |volume=Volume 3 |mention_page= |treatment_page=page 388 }}<!-- --><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Trees,</b> shrubs, herbs, or vines, deciduous or evergreen, frequently with milky sap. <b>Leaves</b> alternate (rarely opposite or whorled), simple; stipules present, persistent or caducous; petiole adaxially grooved. <b>Leaf</b> blade: margins entire, toothed, or lobed; venation pinnate or with 3-5 basal palmate veins; cystoliths often present in epidermal cells. <b>Inflorescences</b> racemes, cymes, or capitula. <b>Flowers</b> unisexual, staminate and pistillate on same or different plants, small, occasionally on flattened torus, more often enclosed within fleshy, flask-shaped receptacle (syconium); sepals 2-6, distinct or partly connate (vestigial in <i>Brosimum</i>). <b>Staminate</b> flowers: stamens equal in number to sepals or calyx lobes and opposite them, straight or inflexed; anthers 1-2-locular. <b>Pistillate</b> flowers: sepals or calyx lobes 4, ± connate; pistils 1, 1-2-carpellate; ovary 1, superior or inferior, 1(-2)-locular; ovules 1 per locule; styles or style branches 1-2; stigmas 1-2, entire. <b>Fruits</b> multiple (syncarps); individual achenes or drupelets partly or completely enclosed by enlarged common receptacle or by individual calyces.</span><!-- -->{{Treatment/Body |distribution=Widespread in tropical and subtropical regions;less common in temperate areas. |discussion=<p>Genera ca. 40, species nearly 1100 (7 genera, 18 species in the flora).</p><!-- --><p>Members of the large and diverse mulberry family are mainly woody and tropical; they are most abundant in Asia. The largest genera are <i>Ficus</i>, with approximately 750 species, and <i>Dorstenia</i>, with about 170 species. The family includes important timber trees, e.g., Chlorophora excelsa (Welwitsch) Bentham, iroko, from tropical Africa; <i>Brosimum</i> guianense (Aublet) Huber, letterwood, snakewood; and <i>Ficus</i> spp. Genera with species bearing edible fruits include the mulberries, <i>Morus</i> spp.; breadfruit and jackfruit, e.g., Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg and A. heterophyllus Lamarck; and figs, <i>Ficus</i> spp. Several species of <i>Ficus</i> are commonly cultivated in subtropical regions of the United States. These include <i>F. carica</i> Linnaeus; <i>F. elastica</i> Roxburgh ex Hornemann, India rubber plant; <i>F. benghalensis</i> Linnaeus, banyan; <i>F. benjamina</i> Linnaeus, weeping fig; <i>F. pumila</i> Linnaeus, creeping fig; and <i>F. microcarpa</i> Linnaeus f., Indian-laurel.</p><!-- --><p>Rubber plants and weeping figs are commonly sold as houseplants. Economically, the most important species are those associated with the silk trade. <i>Morus alba</i> Linnaeus, M. indica Linnaeus, M. laevigata Wallis, and M. serrata Roxburgh, cultivated in many temperate and tropical countries, provide the natural food source for the silkworm, Bombyx mori Linnaeus.</p><!-- --><p>Cudrania tricuspidata (Carrière) Bureau ex Lavallée, used as a food source for silkworms when <i>Morus</i> spp. are in short supply, is cultivated in North America as a hedge plant. The fruit is edible. Native to Korea and China, C. tricuspidata is known from a collection made in 1956 in McIntosh County, Georgia (S. B. Jones Jr. and N. C. Coile 1988), and it is naturalized in Orange County, North Carolina (R. D. Whetstone, pers. comm.).</p> |tables= |references={{Treatment/Reference |id=engler1888b |text=Engler, H. G. A. 1888b. Moraceae. In: H. G. A. Engler and K. Prantl, eds. 1887-1915. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien.... 254 fasc. Leipzig. Fasc. 18[III,1], pp. 66-96. }}{{Treatment/Reference |id=rohwer1993a |text=Rohwer, J. G. 1993b. Moraceae. In: K. Kubutzki et al., eds. 1990+. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. 2+ vols. Berlin etc. Vol. 2, pp. 438-453. }}{{Treatment/Reference |id=tomlinson1980a |text=Tomlinson, P. B. 1980. The Biology of Trees Native to Tropical Florida. Allston, Mass. }} }}<!-- --><div class="treatment-key"> ==Key== <div class="treatment-key-group"> {| class="wikitable fna-keytable" |-id=key-0-1 |1 |Herbs. |[[#key-0-2| > 2]] |-id=key-0-1 |1 |Trees, shrubs, or vines. |[[#key-0-3| > 3]] |-id=key-0-2 |2 |Plants lacking evident aerial stems, rhizomatous, perennial; inflorescences axillary, long-pedunculate. |[[Dorstenia|Dorstenia]] |-id=key-0-2 |2 |Plants caulescent, taprooted, annual; inflorescences axillary, short-pedunculate. |[[Fatoua|Fatoua]] |-id=key-0-3 |3 |Flowers all borne on inside of syconium; terminal vegetative bud surrounded by pair of stipules. |[[Ficus|Ficus]] |-id=key-0-3 |3 |Flowers not borne on inside of syconium or only a solitary female flower immersed in receptacle; terminal vegetative bud scaly, not surrounded by pair of stipules. |[[#key-0-4| > 4]] |-id=key-0-4 |4 |Margins of leaf blade toothed, often lobed; venation appearing palmate, or weakly 3-veined from base. |[[#key-0-5| > 5]] |-id=key-0-4 |4 |Margins of leaf blade entire, never lobed; venation pinnate. |[[#key-0-6| > 6]] |-id=key-0-5 |5 |Pistillate inflorescences globose; styles unbranched. |[[Broussonetia|Broussonetia]] |-id=key-0-5 |5 |Pistillate inflorescences cylindric; styles 2-branched. |[[Morus|Morus]] |-id=key-0-6 |6 |Leaf blade ovate to lanceolate, not leathery; trees deciduous; syncarps 8-12 cm diam. |[[Maclura|Maclura]] |-id=key-0-6 |6 |Leaf blade oblong, leathery; trees evergreen; syncarps 1.5 cm diam. |[[Brosimum|Brosimum]] |} </div></div><!-- -->{{#Taxon: name=Moraceae |author=Richard P. Wunderlin |authority=Link |rank=family |parent rank= |synonyms= |basionyms= |family=Moraceae |illustrator=John Myers |illustration copyright=Flora of North America Association |distribution=Widespread in tropical and subtropical regions;less common in temperate areas. |reference=engler1888b;rohwer1993a;tomlinson1980a |publication title= |publication year= |special status= |source xml=https://bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation/src/2e0870ddd59836b60bcf96646a41e87ea5a5943a/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V3/V3_430.xml }}<!-- -->[[Category:Treatment]] Templates used on this page: Moraceae Illustrations (view source) Template:Moraceae (view source) Template:Treatment/AuthorLink (view source) Template:Treatment/Body (view source) Template:Treatment/Body/Maps (view source) Template:Treatment/ID (view source) Template:Treatment/Reference (view source) Return to Moraceae.