White mulberry

The tree of the Silk Road

Only the silkworm eats mulberry leaves — and the silkworm spins a cocoon that is woven into silk! So without the mulberry tree there would be no silk. Uzbekistan is famous for silk, and mulberry trees grow everywhere. In summer, children shake the sweet berries down from the tree and eat them.

The white mulberry (Morus alba) comes from China and has been grown for silk production for 4,000 years: the silkworm (Bombyx mori) feeds only on its leaves, and a single cocoon yields up to 1,000 m of continuous silk thread. The mulberry reached Central Asia along the Silk Road; today Uzbekistan is the world's third-largest silk producer, raising more than 20,000 tonnes of cocoons a year. Margilan is the silk capital, where 'atlas' and 'adras' fabrics are woven. The fruit is rich in vitamin C and iron; dried mulberries ('tut-mayiz') are a traditional sweet.

Fun facts

• One cocoon gives a kilometre of silk thread!
• To make one silk shirt, 2,000 silkworms have to eat mulberry leaves.
• Uzbekistan is the world's third-largest silk producer.