Brussonetia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Broussonetia (lat. Broussonetia) - a small genus of trees, referred by botanists to the Mulberry family (lat. Mraceae). Among the four or five species, which are classified by different botanical classifications to the genus, the species called "Broussonetia papyrifera" ("Broussonetia paper") is especially popular in East Asia. The Chinese, Koreans and Japanese have learned to make fiber from this type of bark for making paper of high quality.

What's in your name

The Latin name of the genus "Broussonetia" is associated with timber made from tree trunks. However, in this case, the timber has nothing to do with it. In the name of the genus, a French botanist named Etienne Pierre Ventenat (01.03.1757 - 13.08.1808) immortalized the name of another French botanist, whose name is Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet (02.28.1761 - 01.17.1807).

Popularity with gardeners

Although the British botanist (and physician) John Sims (13.10.1749 - 26.02.1831) in 1822 wrote about "Broussonetia papyrifera", also called "Paper-Mulberry" ("Paper-Mulberry"), that it is a shrub not very decorative, plant lovers have found attractive aspects of it and have been growing the tree in Asian and European gardens for many years.

For example, back in 1751, an English botanist and gardener named Peter Collinson (1694-28-01 - 1768-11-08), "part-time" selling silk and velvet from China, grew "Paper-Mulberry" from Chinese seeds, sharing the seeds also with my friends.

But, the main value of a tree is, of course, its bark, from which paper of a wide variety of textures is produced, which is very popular in the world.

In addition to the species "Broussonetia papyrifera", the species "Broussonetia kazinoki" is very picturesque with lobed, jagged edges, decorative leaves and openwork spherical inflorescences.

Description

Briton John Sims clearly underestimated the decorative aspects of plants of the genus "Broussonetia". With such a small number of species, trees are distinguished by a great external variety. Their height, depending on the living conditions and age of the individual, varies from 5 (five) to 16 (sixteen) meters.

Surprising is the variety of forms of petiole leaves, which can be very narrow, ovoid and whole, or lobed, with three curly lobes. The edge of the leaf blade of the leaves is decorated with coquettish teeth, and the surface is dotted with veins, which give a very picturesque look to the green part of the plant. The stipules present in the leaves are drooping.

Flowers of plants are unisexual, forming quite decorative inflorescences. Male flowers form an inflorescence-earrings and have an even number of stamens and petals, equal to four. Female flowers form bright spherical inflorescences-heads, showing three to five petals and a filamentous stigma on a filamentous column. The color of the flower petals is diverse and complements the picturesque nature of the plants.

The crown of the vegetation cycle is the inflorescence formed by fleshy berries that have grown together with the inflorescence stem and with each other, replacing the pollinated female spherical inflorescences.

Usage

As already noted, the plants of the genus are popular with gardeners and are grown as landscape decorators far from their native places in East Asia.

In a number of countries in East Asia, the species called "Broussonetia papyrifera" is an important source of replenishment of the country's budget and the wallets of enterprising citizens. The fibrous inner bark of a tree, called in Russia the word "bast", is an excellent raw material for the production of amazing types of paper that are made by hand.

"Brussonetia paper" has long been a source of food, fiber for making clothes, a healing potion in the countries of East Asia and a number of the Pacific islands.