2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The nurse of the butterfly, who helps people in the production of silk, gives us delicious filling for pies, soft and alcoholic drinks, wood for musical instruments. In addition, the deciduous tree, Mulberry, is decorative and grows rapidly in the first years of life
Genus mulberry
More than two dozen species of deciduous resistant trees, united in the genus
Mulberry (Morus) or
Mulberry tree, until recently were widespread on Earth. A special place among the species belonged to the White Mulberry, on the leaves of which the caterpillars of the butterfly with the name "Silkworm" were engaged in weaving silk cocoons, inside which they were going to turn into butterflies.
True, many caterpillars did not succeed in fulfilling the dream of becoming butterflies, since people already 7000 years ago, and perhaps even earlier, began to privatize the fruits of caterpillar labor, treating them with a temperature of 100 degrees, which kills an almost finished butterfly and makes it easier to unwind silk thread from which the cocoon is woven. The length of such a thread for productive caterpillars reached 1.5 km and was used for the manufacture of silks, demanded by women of fashion throughout the ages.
The leaves of the mulberry are food not only for the silkworm, but also for a number of other butterflies, including the butterfly with the name "Linden hawk", leading among the Lepidoptera in terms of flight speed, which they can reach up to 50 km per hour. If they were subservient to our traffic cops, then, flying through the city streets, it would be good to replenish the local budget. The speed with which they manage to pollinate flowers, equal to more than 30 pieces per minute, is also amazing.
White mulberry
I never cease to admire the forethought of the Almighty, who created food for a person, a roof over his head and clothes that keep warm and adorn his body. By creating trees whose leaves became food for butterfly caterpillars, he thereby created silk threads for human clothing and home decoration.
Smooth branches with large thick leaves branch off from an erect trunk
White mulberry (Morus alba). The brownish bark is cobbled together from small scales that turn the tree trunk into a rough surface.
The decorativeness of the crown of the tree is given by large leaves, their dark green surface and a jagged edge. While the flowers that bloom in spring are not attractive and are colored white or yellowish.
The ordinary-looking flowers are replaced by edible complex fruits - fleshy compound fruits. Nature painted them white with a slightly pinkish tinge and gave them a sweetish taste that is felt even in unripe fruits.
Although Shelkovitsa is more suitable for a mild climate, varieties have been developed that perfectly tolerate the cold, for example, Shelkovitsa Tatarskaya. True, her leaves are small, but the fruits are also sweet.
Black mulberry
Black mulberry (Morus nigra) protected its branches and leaves with pubescence. Leaves slightly pubescent on the underside are rough on top.
The color of the fruit of the tree gave rise to the name Mulberry. Slightly sour, resembling blackberries in appearance, the fruits of the black mulberry are popularly called mulberry berries, which ripen in the second half of summer.
Less common in culture can be found
Red mulberry (Morus rubra), Small-leaved mulberry (Morus microphylla).
Growing
For Mulberry, a sunny place, protected from the piercing winter winds, is suitable. They can withstand both high and low temperatures, dropping their decorative foliage for the winter.
The soil needs fertile, rich in organic matter, moist, deep, with a good drainage system.
Watering is required for young specimens, or with prolonged drought. Young trees are fed once a month with mineral fertilizer, combining top dressing with the next watering.
To maintain the appearance, damaged and dry branches are removed, as well as those that have chosen an unfortunate location for themselves.
Reproduction
The most popular breeding method is spring or autumn cuttings.
Lignified cuttings are taken from well-formed shoots and immediately planted in open ground.
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How To Properly Store Mulberries
Mulberry, well known to us as a mulberry, is a very useful berry and quite popular. She is able to normalize not only the metabolism, but also the heart rate, for which many appreciate her. Since mulberries bear fruit exclusively in summer, the question of its proper storage becomes quite reasonable. After all, you really want to pamper yourself with delicious berries in winter! Despite the fact that the mulberry is considered an easily damaged and perishable berry, it is still quite possible to preserve it
