A DWARF mulberry, Morus Charlotte Russe (also called M. Matsunaga), was voted plant of the year at the 2017 Chelsea Flower Show and has sold in its thousands since it was introduced by Suttons last spring.
Although developed from a Thai species, M. rotundiloba, it’s hardy, easy to please and easier still to accommodate, being fully grown and heavy-cropping at only 3ft tall. Diminutive but delectable, its beaded berries appear among the small, aspen-like leaves all summer and autumn, synchronously in different stages of ripeness, so that the bush appears to be studded with fruit pastilles.
This miniature of immense appeal was bred by Hajime Matsunaga, who, at 90, is still conjuring up marvels at his nursery in Japan. ‘He’s so happy that the British like his little tree,’ said my partner, Yoko, after talking to him. ‘Like is understating it,’ I replied. ‘The last time we bought this many mulberries, we were commanded to by a king who fancied beating Europe at its own game.’
Early in the reign of James I, silk shipped from producers in Italy, Spain and France became our largest raw-material import. Much as this filled his coffers with customs revenue, the King judged that there was more to be gained from developing a domestic silk-production industry.
For that, the nation would need not only silkworms (Bombyx mori), but also the mulberries (Morus) from which they took their sustenance and name.
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