What does a silkworm thorn tree look like? A detailed analysis of its physical features
Silkworm thorn, also known as mulberry silkworm thorn wood, is a plant of the Moraceae family and a famous precious timber in China's history, recorded in most historical documents. Silkworm thorn is generally not used as furniture material, because its name is mulberry silkworm thorn, and mulberry sounds like injury or mourning. So, what does a silkworm thorn tree look like?
1. What does a silkworm thorn tree look like?
Silkworm thorn is a deciduous shrub or small tree, 1-7 m tall; bark grayish brown; branchlets hairless, slightly angular, with spines, spines 5-20 mm long; winter buds reddish brown. Leaves ovate to obovate, 5-14 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, entire, occasionally irregularly 3-lobed, apex acuminate, base cuneate to rounded, leaf surface dark green, hairless, underside light green, usually hairless, rarely pubescent, lateral veins 4-6 per side; petiole 1-2 cm long, puberulent.
Silkworm thorn flowers are dioecious, inflorescences spherical heads, solitary or paired in leaf axils, peduncle short; male inflorescences small, 5 mm in diameter; male flowers with 4 tepals, bracts attached to the tepals, apex thickened, incurved, stamens 4, erect in bud, rudimentary pistil sunken into the lower part of the tepals, conical; female inflorescences 1-1.5 cm in diameter, tepals 4, ovary sunken deep into the lower part of the tepals. Syncarp nearly spherical, about 2.5 cm in diameter, fleshy, orange-red when mature. Flowering period April-May, fruiting period May-June.
2. Main values of the silkworm thorn tree
The phloem fiber of the silkworm thorn tree is a high-quality papermaking raw material, the wood is a yellow dye, and the leaves are feed for young silkworms; the mature syncarp can be eaten raw or used to make wine.
The wood of the silkworm thorn tree is sweet in taste, warm, non-toxic, and enters the liver and spleen meridians. The root bark is used as medicine, with effects such as clearing heat, cooling blood, unblocking meridians, and clearing the liver to improve eyesight, and can treat abnormal uterine bleeding, foreign bodies entering the eye, and malaria.