mulberry family

mulberry family
the plant family Moraceae, characterized by deciduous or evergreen trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants having simple, alternate leaves, often milky sap, dense clusters of small flowers, and fruit in the form of a fleshy berry, usually hollow in the center, and including the fig, mulberry, Osage orange, and rubber plant.

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Family Moraceae, composed of about 1,000 species of deciduous or evergreen trees in about 40 genera, found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions.

Plants of the family contain a milky latex and produce multiple fused fruits. Edible fruits grow on the common mulberry (genus Morus), fig (in the largest genus, Ficus), and breadfruit. Silkworms (see silkworm moth) feed almost exclusively on the leaves of the white mulberry (M. alba). Among the ornamentals in the family are the paper mulberry and the Osage orange (Maclura pomifera). Other species include the India rubber tree, which is often placed in office lobbies, and the wide-spreading banyan tree.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • mulberry family — noun trees or shrubs having a milky juice; in some classifications includes genus Cannabis • Syn: ↑Moraceae, ↑family Moraceae • Derivationally related forms: ↑moraceous (for: ↑Moraceae) • Hypernyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • mulberry — [mul′ber΄ē, mul′bər ē] n. pl. mulberries [ME mulberie, dissimilated var. of murberie < OE morberie < L morum, mulberry, blackberry < IE base * moro , blackberry (> Gr moron, mulberry, blackberry) + OE berie,BERRY] 1. any of a genus… …   English World dictionary

  • mulberry — /mul ber ee, beuh ree/, n., pl. mulberries. 1. the edible, berrylike collective fruit of any tree of the genus Morus. 2. a tree of this genus, as M. rubra (red mulberry or American mulberry) bearing dark purple fruit, M. nigra (black mulberry)… …   Universalium

  • mulberry — noun Etymology: Middle English murberie, mulberie, from Anglo French mure, moure mulberry (from Latin morum, from Greek moron) + Middle English berie berry Date: 14th century 1. any of a genus (Morus of the family Moraceae, the mulberry family)… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • family — /fam euh lee, fam lee/, n., pl. families, adj. n. 1. parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not. 2. the children of one person or one couple collectively: We want a large family. 3. the spouse and children …   Universalium

  • mulberry — mul·ber·ry məl .ber ē, b(ə )rē n, pl ries any of a genus (Morus of the family Moraceae, the mulberry family) of trees with an edible usu. purple fruit that includes one (M. nigra) with a fruit whose juice is sometimes used for its medicinal… …   Medical dictionary

  • family Moraceae — noun trees or shrubs having a milky juice; in some classifications includes genus Cannabis • Syn: ↑Moraceae, ↑mulberry family • Derivationally related forms: ↑moraceous (for: ↑Moraceae) • Hypernyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

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