Chandigarh Forests
Department of Forest & Wildlife
UT Administration
Chandigarh
Department of Forest & Wildlife
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Division
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Angiosperms
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Class
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Dicotyledons
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Subclass
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Apetalae |
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Order
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Urticales |
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Family
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Moraceae |
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Genus
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Broussonetia |
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Species
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papyrifera |
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Etymology:
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In honour of P.M.A. Broussonet (1761-1807), a French naturalist. |
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Botanical name
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Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. |
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Local/Trade names:
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The Paper Mulberry, Tutri. |
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Conservation status: |
Naturalized throughout India. |
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Digonestic features: |
Fruits red when ripe. |
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Description:
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A small to moderate-sized tree. Bark grey or brown, nearly smooth. Leaves 6-22 x 5-15 cm, unlobed to deeply lobed, obliquely ovate, crenate-dentate, scabrous above, softly pubescent beneath, base 3-nerved. Male flowers: greenish- yellow, in cylindric, spikes. Female flowers : in compact, tomentose, globose. Fruit over 3 cm across, of a head, red when ripe. |
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Phenology: |
Fls.: Mar.-Apr. Frts.: Rainy season. |
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Distribution: |
China, Japan, Polynesia, Thailand and Myanmar. In India in early Nintees it was first introduced in Kaunli Garden, Dehra Dun from there it has spread and naturalized. |
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Where to see it: |
Near Medicinal Plant Garden. |
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Uses: |
Wood yields paper-pulp; also used for plywood , cheap furniture, toys, shoe-heels, cigar-boxes, sports goods and packing-cases, and for hand boards. Bark yields a strong, lustrous fibre, used for paper-making, high grade leathery, paper, umbrella covers, paper-lanterns, paper handkerchchiefs, lens-paper etc. Fruits edible. Seeds yield a fatty oil. Leaves yield fodder, also used for rearing silkworms. They are diaphoretic, used also for indigestion. Seeds tonic and diuretic. |
