Paper-mulberry [for Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet (1761-1807), French biologist at Montpellier]

Trees , deciduous; sap milky. Terminal buds surrounded by bud scales. Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled; stipules caducous, free. Leaf blade ovate, lobed or entire, margins dentate; venation appearing palmate or weakly 3-veined from base. Staminate inflorescences pedunculate, cylindric spikes; pistillate inflorescences short-pedunculate, globose capitula. Flowers: staminate and pistillate on different plants. Staminate flowers: sepals 4, connate at base; stamens 4, inflexed. Pistillate flowers: sepals 4, connate, forming tube; ovary superior, stipitate, 1-locular; style unbranched. Fruits globose; each drupelet partly protruding from its enlarged calyx. x = 13.

Species 7-8 (1 in the flora): North America, Asia, and Pacific Islands (Polynesia).

Lower Taxon

• Broussonetia papyrifera (Linnaeus) Ventenat