**3. Botanical description of mulberry plant**

Before any sort of investigations of a plant it is extremely urgent to go through its overall botanical details. Mulberry is a perennial, fast growing, woody, deciduous, deep and wide rooted plant [21]. Generally the height of Mulberry plant is approximately 5-6 feet from the ground level [22]. Stem of mulberry is cylindrical in shape with milky sap and fissured bark [23]. Mulberry leaves are generally 5-7.5 cm long and 6-10 cm wide, but they vary widely in their size and shape. Leaves are mostly deeply lobed or having serrate margins; leaf apex is mostly acute with cordate or truncate base. Basal nerves are generally 3; near the margins lateral nerves are forked. Flowers are yellowish green in color with chromosome number 2n = 28. There are differentiations between female and male spikes shape and size in mulberry. Male spikes (catkins) are cylindrical and broad where as female spikes (catkins) are ovoid and stalked, and female spikes (catkins) shorter than male spikes (catkins). Mulberry fruits are arranged longitudinally around the central axis in cluster of small fruits similar with blackberry or loganberries. Mulberry fruits are white to pinkish white in color and during the time of ripening it becomes purple or black in color. Fruits contain many drupes which are enclosed in a fleshy perianth, upto 5 cm long, sub-globose or ovoid in shape. Ovary of mulberry is unicellular with presence of a bifid stigma [2].
