Morus serrata ?; Morus : ................. Morus indica L. is now treated as synonym of Morus alba L. There are atleast three other species cultivated in North India: M. macroura (syn: M. laevigata) with catkins longer than 5 cm, rest having catkins shorter than 5 cm with biserrate leaves having acuminate-caudate lobes in M. serrata, uniserrate leaves lobes not caudate in rest two, of which M. nigra has leaves pubescent all over the lower surface including veinlets and styles densely white hairy. M. alba has leaves pubescent only on the midrib and principal veins of lower surface, secondary and ultimate veinlets glabrous, styles glabrous. I had the idea that Morus alba is the white mulberry, the woods used for hockey stick, whereas M indica (Syn. M. autralis, M.acidosa etc.) is our common mulberry, leaves source of silk worm feed. Plants of M. alba and M. indica do show some differences. Style-arms are glabrous, short and free up to the base, fruit red or white when mature in M. alba. In M. indica style-arms are hairy, long, united for one fourth of length and fruit black when ripe, but the differences are not sufficient to to merit recognition as distinct species. My information is based on GRIN database, which is generally considered as reliable. Both GRIN as well as Eflora of Pakistan treat M. indica as synonym of M. alba. Thought of adding an interesting fact of Himalayan Mulberry: Morus serrata Roxb. There is one tree dating back to 8th century A.D. in Garhwal, Joshimath. at 1900 metres. which is more than 1200 years old, as informed in the book ' The book of Indian trees' by K.C. Sahni. Anyone who visits the valley of flowers gets to hear of it on the way. There was a lead article on this tree by Peter Smetacek on 20 th May 2007, TOI. Which is titled "A tree created India", where in he also mentions that it is believed to be the oldest tree in India. Thanks for interesting information ... I wish to arrange a visit to this tree with the Traditional Healers having expertise in use of Morus as medicine. I tried to get a photo of the tree on the web. I had no luck. Can you help?
Here are some images of Morus alba. http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=pdb&PdbID=7969&pictureType=PH&subjectType=E&subjectId=1491 http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=pdb&PdbID=8056&pictureType=PH&subjectType=E&subjectId=1491 http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=pdb&PdbID=14581&pictureType=PH&subjectType=E&subjectId=1491 http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=pdb&PdbID=14582&pictureType=PH&subjectType=E&subjectId=1491 http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=pdb&PdbID=87634&pictureType=PH&subjectType=E&subjectId=1491 It is really surprising that why Ecoport has kept these valuable pictures away from common people as these are not searchable through search engines. I took this Plant picture in Joshimath. Uttarakhand Date/Time-15.7.10 ----10.32 a.m. Location- Place, Altitude, GPS- Joshimath Habitat- Garden/ Urban/ Wild/ Type- Plant Habit- Tree/ Shrub/ Climber/ Herb- --- Tree around 5 me ht. and 2500 years vidyaman, can someone explain to me what it wants to say exactly? I am spellbound by these images, isn't this the famous Mulberry tree of Joshimath? If it is these are the first real images of this tree on ITP. ... would you have any more images, any more info. about the tree. Thanks. I send separate mail with four attachments What I came to know about the Joshimath is Sankracharya from Kerala came to this place to spread Hinduism. The tree, I was told 2500 years old. As desired I attached more photos which I shot. This I suppose ie none else than Morus alba, a very unusual tree to be several hundred years old. It looks like Morus alba to me too What are the chances of it being a Broussonetia, just a thought, its too big to be a Morus alba but then if its that old then likely it could get that big. Thanks a lot for the additional pictures ... I wonder how the age was determined. In an earlier discussion of this tree I have quoted from an article which appeared in TOI about this tree. 'The book of Indian trees' by K.C. Sahni mentions the age of this tree as 1200 years! But really great to see the actual pictures. Thanks again. I think there are more than one tree. May be both Broussonetia and Morus are there. Leaves in second pic is not glabrous like that in first Age can be determined easily by the annual growth rings in the trunk. |
|
|
