CALYX 4-partitus. Corolla nulla.
* _Feminei flores._
AMENTUM globosum, floribus undique tectum.
CALYX inferus, persistens, 3-seu 4-dentatus. Corolla nulla. Stylus
filiformis. Fructus cylindraceo-clavatus, apice bilabiatus.
SEMEN nudum ad apicem fructûs.
* _Male flowers._
CATKIN cylindrical.
EMPALEMENT 4-divided. Blossom none.
* _Female flowers._
CATKIN globular, covered all over by flowers.
EMPALEMENT beneath and remaining, 3-sometimes 4-toothed. Blossom
none. Shaft thread-shaped. Fruit cylindrically club-shaped, and
two-lipped at the point.
SEED naked at the point of the fruit.
_Broussonetia papyrifera. Vent. Tab. Veg. et Willd. Sp. Pl._
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
BROUSSONETIA foliis tri-vel quinque-lobis, acutis, serratis, supra
scabris, subtus pubescentibus.
BROUSSONETIA with leaves from 3-to 5-lobed, pointed, sawed, rough
on the upper surface, and softly haired beneath.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
_Male Plant._
1. An empalement and chives, in an infant state.
2. The same magnified.
3. An empalement and chives in perfection.
4. The same magnified.
_Female Plant._
1. The catkin with a pointal detached.
2. A section of the same when in fruit.
3. One of the florets with the seed detached.
4. A seed cut in two, and magnified.
This useful plant is the Morus papyrifera of Linnæus, but certainly
would not have been so called by him, had both, the male and female
plant come under his inspection, as it does not belong either to the
class or order of the Mulberry. Neither of the plants, when in bloom,
possesses much beauty, but they have rather a sombre aspect: yet the
female plant, when in fruit, is certainly very handsome. In Japan and
the South Sea Islands, where it is indigenous, the bark of it serves to
make a clothing for the natives. In Japan, it not only makes cloth for
them, but all the Japanese paper is made from the bark of it. There are
four sorts. The first is a royal size, of a square form, very smooth,
and painted on one side. The second is a fine letter paper, in sheets
often three feet long. The third is used for covering their best
varnished articles, and so fine as sometimes to look like a spider’s
web. The fourth is a common writing-paper, varying in size and form. The
process of its manufacture is by cutting off the shoots after the leaves
fall, and boiling them till the bark separates. It is then peeled off,
and steeped 3 or 4 hours in water, to purify, and the black outer
cuticle, and green matter within, are scraped off and separated,
according to their qualities. It is again boiled with a little ashes,
and stirred with a bamboo stick; and the boiling is complete when its
downy fibres can be separated with a touch of the finger. It is then
agitated in water till it appears like a lump of tow, and again beat
with camphor wood battens, and strained, for the coarser paper. An
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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