Moreae

Moreae is a tribe within the plant family Moraceae. It includes 6–10 genera and 70–80 species, including Morus, the genus that includes the mulberries, and Maclura, the genus that includes the Osage orange.

Recent work suggests that the tribe is polyphyletic.

Description

The Moreae are a tribe of trees, shrubs, climbers and herbs that are usually dioecious. Their inflorescences are simpler than most other Moraceae. Their flowers are adapted for wind pollination.

Members of the tribe are characterised by having inflexed or "urticaceous" stamens. The way in which the anther filaments elongate in the developing flower bud causes the anthers to "spring back explosively" when the flower opens. This releases pollen into the air, facilitating wind-pollination. These characters are considered plesiomorphic—traits that were present in the ancestors of the Moraceae which have been retained in the Moreae.

Taxonomy

The tribe is based on Morus, the genus that includes the mulberries. The name Morus was first published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum.