White mulberry, an excellent herb for rheumatic arthralgia

What is white mulberry(Sang Zhi)?
Morus alba L. is one of deciduous shrubs or small trees, 3 to 15 meters in height. Trunk bark is gray and with shallow grooves; root bark is fibrous and yellow-brown or reddish yellow. The leaves are alternate and simple; petiole is 1 to 2.5cm in length; blade is ovate or broadly ovate, 5 to 20cm long, 4 to 10cm wide, and with acute or acuminate apex, rounded or heart-shaped base, coarsely serrated or crenate edge, sometimes irregular lobes, hairless and shiny upper surface, and velutionous lower surface; stipules are lanceolate and caducous. Unisexual flowers are dioecious; female and male inflorescences are axillary and arranged in a spike-like catkins; female inflorescence is pubescent, 1 to 2cm in length, and with 5 to 10mm peduncle; male inflorescence is sagging, slightly pubescent, and 1 to 2.5cm in length; male flowers are with tepals 4, stamens 4, and a sterile pistil in middle; female flowers are with tepals 4, gamogenic base, and 2-lobed stigma. Many achenes densely gather into an oval or oblong aggregate fruit, which is l to 2.5cm long, green at first, fleshy, dark purple or red when ripe. Seeds are small. Bloom time is from April to May and fruiting time is from May to June. Habitats include hills, slopes, area near the villages, fields, etc. Most of them are now cultivated.

The dried twigs of Morus alba, also called Ramulus Mori, are often used as medicine. It is produced across China and usually harvested at the end of spring and the beginning of summer. And the next procedures are to remove the leaves, dry them in the sun, or slice when they are still fresh before the drying. It is used raw or fried medicinally. And the preferred one is stout, young, dry, and with yellowish white section.

White mulberry health benefits
Since white mulberry trees are the most common species grown in China, it is the main medicinal plant source. Therefore, mulberry mentioned in all medical book means Morus alba unless otherwise stated. Mulberry twig is known for its excellent healing properties on rheumatic arthralgia, in particular upper extremity joint pain. And its modern pharmacology has indicated that its twig has strong anti-inflammatory activity, which can improve human lymphocyte transformation rate (LTR), and thereby enhance immunity.