Moraceae

Defining Characteristics

• Milky latex sap — exudes from broken twigs, leaves, and fruit
• Simple, alternate leaves, often palmately lobed or with serrated margins; stipules present
• Small, unisexual flowers densely packed on a receptacle, disc, or enclosed within a structure (syconium in figs)
• Multiple or accessory fruits formed from an entire inflorescence (mulberry, fig, breadfruit, jackfruit)
• Often with cystoliths (calcium carbonate deposits) in leaf cells

Notable Genera

• Ficus (fig — ~750 species)
• Morus (mulberry)
• Maclura (osage orange)
• Artocarpus (breadfruit, jackfruit)
• Broussonetia (paper mulberry)

Notes

The fig–fig wasp mutualism is one of the most celebrated examples of obligate coevolution. Economically important for edible fruits (fig, mulberry, breadfruit, jackfruit), timber, and latex. Ficus is one of the most species-rich tree genera in tropical forests. Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) wood is among the hardest and most rot-resistant native North American timbers.