Broussonetia papyrifera

Medium-growing deciduous tree reaching 9m tall and wide. Flowers August to September with seeds ripening September to November. Dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants; both sexes required for seed production. Not self-fertile. Tolerates light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay well-drained soils and very acid conditions, with mildly acid to basic pH suitable. Requires full sun and adapts to dry or moist soils and drought. Tolerates atmospheric pollution. Hardy to UK zone 8, frost tender.

Description

Medium-growing deciduous tree reaching 9m tall and wide. Flowers August to September with seeds ripening September to November. Dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants; both sexes required for seed production. Not self-fertile. Tolerates light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay well-drained soils and very acid conditions, with mildly acid to basic pH suitable. Requires full sun and adapts to dry or moist soils and drought. Tolerates atmospheric pollution. Hardy to UK zone 8, frost tender.

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Flowers Fruit Leaves Edible Uses: Fruit - raw. The fruit comprises a ball about 1.5cm in diameter with numerous small edible fruits protruding - there is not much edible flesh but it has a lovely flavour. Prolonged ingestion is said to weaken the bones. Leaves - cooked. The dried leaf contains 1% calcium carbonate (this report does not mention edibility). Flowers. No more details.

Traditional Uses

The young leaves are lightly cooked and eaten. The fleshy part of the ripe compound fruit is sweet and edible. It is eaten raw. They are added to desserts and conserves. The seeds are also edible. (The bark is also used for making cloth.) CAUTION: Eating a lot of fruit is reported to affect calcium absorption.

Medicinal Uses

Astringent Diaphoretic Diuretic Dysentery Galactogogue Haemostatic Laxative Ophthalmic Skin Stimulant Stomachic Tonic Vulnerary Astringent, diuretic, tonic, vulnerary. The leaf juice is diaphoretic and laxative - it is also used in the treatment of dysentery. It is also poulticed onto various skin disorders, bites etc. The stem bark is haemostatic. The fruit is diuretic, ophthalmic, stimulant, stomachic and tonic. The root is cooked with other foods as a galactogogue.

Distribution

E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia.

Where It Grows

Fruit, Flowers, Leaves, Seeds,

Cultivation

Trees can be grown from seeds or root suckers. Seeds are often not available. Young buds can be removed to give a straight unbranched tree. The seeds take 1-3 months to germinate at 15°C. Stem cuttings can be used.

Propagation

Seed - no pre-treatment is required. Sown in the autumn or spring in a greenhouse, germination usually takes place within 1 - 3 months at 15°c. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter, planting them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 8 - 12cm long with a heel, July/August in a frame. High percentage. Cuttings of mature wood of the current season's growth, November in a frame. Root cuttings in winter. Layering in spring.

Other Uses

Fibre Fodder Leather Paper Wood A fibre from the bark is used in making paper, cloth, rope etc. The fibre can be produced by beating strips of bark on a flat surface with a wooden mallet. A very fine cloth can be made in this way, the more the bark is beaten the finer the cloth becomes. Larger sizes can be made by overlapping 2 pieces of bark and beating them together. A leather substitute can also be made from the bark. When used for making paper branches are harvested after the leaves have fallen in the autumn, they are steamed and the fibres stripped off. In humid areas this can be done without steaming the branches. The inner and outer bark are then separated by scraping (or simply peeling in humid areas) and the fibres are cooked for 2 hours with lye before being hand pounded with mallets. The paper varies in colour if the outer and inner barks are used together or separately. Wood - coarse grained, soft, easily worked, light, not very durable. Used for cups, bowls, furniture etc. Its timber does not have high commercial value. Animal feed, fodder, forage: Fodder/animal feed, Invertebrate food for silkworms. Environmental Uses: Agroforestry. Erosion control or dune stabilization. Revegetation. Shade and shelter. Soil improvement. Windbreak. [1d]. Special Uses Carbon Farming

Production

It is fast growing.

Other Information

Moraceae

Notes

A small deciduous tree. It grows up to about 8-15 metres tall. The stem is often surrounded by a ring of suckers. The bark is dark grey. It has very hairy branches and a milky sap. The leaf stalk is 2.3-8 cm long. Leaves are arranged in spirals. The leaves are large, heart shaped and sometimes with 3 lobes. Leaves can be 6-20 cm long by 5-9 cm wide. The leaves are rough on the upper side and woolly underneath. Male and female flowers are produced on separate plants. Male flowers are produced on stout hanging flower stalks up to 7 cm long. These have creamy anthers. Female flowers have slender purple stigmas and are produced in round heads which can be 2 cm across. It has a club shaped pulpy fruit, orange in colour. They are mulberry like and edible. Fruit do not occur on plants in the Pacific as only male trees occur.

Synonyms

Also Known As

Ai masi, Aute, Duong, Gou shu, Goushuguo, Goutao, Gouye, Guo sha, Hiapo, Hwaing-kan-setku, Jangali toot, Kaagda, Lafi, Maisa, Mai-sai-le, Mai-sau, Maisha, Mai-tun-sao, Malaing, Malo, Mamajang, Masa, Ma san, Masi, Me day, Musa, Namas, Na sha er zi, Poh-krasah, Por sa, Rou yang, Sa lae, Tapa cloth tree, Tha-le, Tomune, Tutu, U'a, Ute, Wauke

References (63)

• Polynesian mulberry references Broussonetia papyrifera
• Altschul, S.V.R., 1973, Drugs and Foods from Little-known Plants. Notes in Harvard University Herbaria. Harvard Univ. Press. Massachusetts. no. 678
• Ambasta S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 87
• Bajpai, O., et al, 2015, Tree species of the Himalayan Terai region of Uttar Pradesh, India: a checklist. Check List 11(4): 1718
• Barwick, M., 2004, Tropical and Subtropical Trees. A Worldwide Encyclopedic Guide. Thames and Hudson p 61

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