Morus alba (PROSEA)

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Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction
List of species


1, fruiting twig; 2, infructescence; 3, female flower; 4, male inflorescence; 5, male flower (Achmad Satiri Nurhaman)

Morus alba L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 2: 986 (1753).

Synonyms

  • Morus indica L. (1753),
  • Morus atropurpurea Roxb. (1832),
  • Morus morettiana Jacq. ex Burr. (1873),
  • Morus macrophylla Moretti,
  • Morus nervosa Deless. ex Spach.

Vernacular names

  • White mulberry (En)
  • Mûrier blanc (Fr)
  • Moral blanco, morera blanca (Sp)
  • Indonesia: murbei (general), bebesaran (Sundanese), bebesaran lampung, besaran (Javanese)
  • Philippines: amingit, amoras (Filipino), mora (Ibanag)
  • Burma (Myanmar): posa
  • Thailand: mon (general)
  • Cambodia: mon
  • Vietnam: dâu, tằm tang.

Distribution

Native of India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, China and Japan, now widely cultivated in temperate and tropical regions; in Malesia occasionally naturalized, including Java, and in the Philippines (Batan Island and Cagayan Province) where it was introduced in 1780.

Uses

Most of the medicinal applications of M. alba are reported from China. Elsewhere it seems to be more often cultivated for its edible fruits and leaves that are fed to silkworms. In Vietnam the root bark is used as a diuretic, antitussive and expectorant and prescribed in oedema, high blood pressure, cough, bronchitis and asthma.

Observations

  • A small to medium-sized tree up to 15(-20) m tall, bole up to 70 cm in diameter, bark surface dark grey-brown, with horizontal lenticels.
  • Leaves ovate to broadly ovate, 5-16 cm × 4-12 cm, rounded to shallowly cordate at base, acute to acuminate at apex, pubescent on the main veins, with a slender, 1-3.5 cm long petiole.
  • Male spikes 1-1.5(-2) cm long, female spikes ovoid, 0.5-1.3 cm long; syncarp ovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm long.


The native and subspontaneous habitats of M. alba are generally moist places in mountains and thickets along rivers. In subtropical or dry tropical regions, M. alba can be cultivated at 0-3500 m altitude, but in the humid tropics it does not produce good fruit when planted at sea-level.

Selected sources

  • [78] Atal, C.K. & Kapur, B.M. (Editors), 1982. Cultivation and utilization of medicinal plants. Regional Research Laboratory, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Jammu-Tawi, India. 877 pp.
  • [175] Bose, P.C., Majundar, S.K. & Sengupta, K., 1990. Sandy-loam soils of Andamans are suitable for mulberry cultivation. Indian Farming 39(11): 8-9.
  • [190] Brown, W.H., 1951-1957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 1941-1943 edition. 3 volumes. Technical Bulletin 10. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. Vol. 1 (1951) 590 pp., Vol. 2 (1954) 513 pp., Vol. 3 (1957) 507 pp.
  • [202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
  • [244] Chen, C.P., Lin, C.C. & Namba, T., 1989. Screening of Taiwanese crude drugs for antibacterial activity against Streptococcus mutans. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 27(3): 285-296.
  • [335] de Vries, C.A., 1974. Sericulture. Tropical Abstracts 29: 633-642.
  • [350] Dharma, A.P., 1981. Indonesische geneeskrachtige planten [Indonesian medicinal plants]. De Driehoek, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 168 pp.
  • [396] Emmanuel, C.J.S.K., Kapoor, M.L. & Sharma, V.K., 1992. Three decades of forest genetics and tree improvement. Indian Forester 118: 489-500.
  • [478] Ghafoor, A., 1985. Moraceae. In: Nasir, E. & Ali, S.I. (Editors): Flora of Pakistan No 171. National Herbarium (Stewart Collection), Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan. 54 pp.
  • [540] Han, G.Q., Pau, J.X., Li, C.L. & Tu, F., 1991. The screening of Chinese traditional drugs by biological assay and the isolation of some active components. International Journal of Chinese Medicine 16(1): 1-17.
  • [580] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
  • [584] Hikino, H., Mizuno, T., Oshima, Y. & Konno, C., 1985. Isolation and hypoglycemic activity of moran A, a glycoprotein of Morus alba root barks. Planta Medica 50(2): 159-160.
  • [717] Keereewan, S. & Leeprasert, P., 1975. Distribution of plant parasitic nematodes of mulberry in Thailand. Technical Bulletin No 28. Plant Protection Service, Department of Agriculture, Bangkok, Thailand. 18 pp.
  • [900] Mansfeld, R., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaflicher und gaertnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen) [Register of agricultural and horticultural plants (withouth ornamentals)]. 2nd Edition, revised by J. Schultze-Motel. 4 volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1998 pp.
  • [1035] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
  • [1048] Nomura, T. & Hano, J., 1994. Isoprenoid-substituted phenolic compounds of moraceous plants. Natural Products Report. pp. 205-218.
  • [1128] Pételot, A., 1952-1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
  • [1178] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
  • [1212] Rehm, S. & Espig, G., 1991. The cultivated plants of the tropics and subtropics. Cultivation, economic value, utilization. Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Co-operation (CTA), Ede, the Netherlands & Verlag Josef Margraf, Weikersheim, Germany. 552 pp.
  • [1252] Rohwer, J.G., 1993. Moraceae. In: Kubitzki, K., Rohwer, J.G. & Bittrich, V. (Editors): The families and genera of vascular plants. Volume 2. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. p. 438-453.
  • [1276] Samsijah, 1986. Jenis daun murbei dan ras ulat yang cocok untuk pengembangan persutraan alam di Payakumbuh, Sumatra Barat *[Leaves of mulberry species and silkworm races suitable for the development of the silk industry in the Payakumbuh area, West Sumatra]. Buletin Penelitian Hutan 484: 17-40.
  • [1316] Sharaf, A., 1969. Food plants as a possible factor in fertility control. Qualitas Plantarum et Materiae Vegetabilis 17: 153.
  • [1317] Sharaf, A. & Mansour, M.Y., 1964. Pharmacological studies on the leaves of Morus alba, with special reference to its hypoglycemic activity. Planta Medica 12(1): 71-76.
  • [1336] Shirahata, A. & Takahashi K., 1982. Detection and production of anti microbial substances in leaves of mulberry and other Moraceae tree plants. Bulletin Sericulture Experimental Station 28(5): 707-718. (in Japanese)
  • [1345] Siddaramaiah, A.L. & Hegde, R.K., 1989. Development and severity of Cercospora leaf spot of mulberry in relation to environmental factors. Mysore Journal of Agricultural Sciences 23(2): 189-192.
  • [1392] Sosef, M.S.M., Hong, L.T. & Prawirohatmodjo, S. (Editors), 1998. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(3). Timber trees: Lesser-known timbers. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands. 859 pp.
  • [1405] Subrata Biswas, Das, N.K., Qadri, S.M.H. & Saratchandra, B., 1995. Evaluating different plant extracts against three major diseases of mulberry. Indian Phytopathology 48(3): 342-346.
  • [1470] Townsend, C.C., 1980. Amaranthaceae. In: Dassanayake, M.D. & Fosberg, F.R. (Editors): A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol. 1. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi, India. pp. 1-57.
  • [1478] Troup, R.S., 1921. Silviculture of Indian trees. 3 volumes. Clarendon Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.
  • [1613] Yamatake, Y., Shibata, M. & Nagai, M., 1976. Pharmacological studies on root bark of mulberry tree (Morus alba L.). Japanese Journal of Pharmacology 26(4): 461-469.

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Authors

  • D.S. Alonzo
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