346

12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1

Morus alba L.

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Morus in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Sp. pl. 2: 986 (1753).

Morus indica L. (1753), Morus atropurpurea Roxb. (1832), Morus morettiana Jacq. ex Burr. (1873).

White mulberry (En). Mûrier blanc (Fr). Moral blanco, morera blanca (Sp). Indonesia: murbei (general), besaran (Javanese). Philippines: amoras (Filipino), amingit (Igorot), mora (Ibanag). Burma (Myanmar): posa. Cambodia: mon. Vietnam: d[aaj]u t[aaf]m, tang.

Native of China, now widely cultivated in temperate and tropical regions; in Malesia occasionally naturalized, i.e. in the Philippines (Batan Island and Cagayan Province) where it was introduced in 1780.

Most of the medicinal applications of Morus 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.

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 x 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 Morus alba are generally moist places in mountains and thickets along rivers. In subtropical or dry tropical regions, Morus 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.

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D.S. Alonzo

Alonzo, D.S., 1999. Morus alba L.. In: de Padua, L.S., Bunyapraphatsara, N. and Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea