Specimen image via iDigBio · BY
Broussonetia
Sign in to saveBroussonetia is a genus of four species (including one hybrid species) of trees in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Asia. These four species have high-quality fiber which consist of more than 90% of cellulose. They are traditionally applied for various daily necessities in South Eastern Asia and papermaking in East Asia. It is named after Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet, an illustrious French naturist.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassMagnoliopsida
- OrderRosales
- FamilyMoraceae
General: In New Guinea, Broussonetia is known from gardens areas
via GBIF · Kew POWO
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 139
- With media
- 105
- Family
- Moraceae
- Collections
- NY, GH, A, NEBC, CAS, MO
- Recorded in
- United States, China, Philippines, Madagascar, Argentina, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand
Research
361 papers- The Genus Broussonetia: An Updated Review of Phytochemistry, Pharmacology and Applications.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022
- The genus Broussonetia: a review of its phytochemistry and pharmacology.Phytotherapy research : PTR · 2012
- Medicinal Potential of Broussonetia papyrifera: Chemical Composition and Biological Activity Analysis.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
- Bioinformatics analysis and function prediction of NBS-LRR gene family in Broussonetia papyrifera.Biotechnology letters · 2023
- Broussonetia papyrifera ameliorates imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like skin inflammation in mice by modulating the TLR4/NF-κB and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways.PloS one · 2025
via PubMed
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Species
- Fossil record
- References
- External links
Broussonetia is a genus of four species (including one hybrid species) of trees in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Asia. These four species have high-quality fiber which consist of more than 90% of cellulose. They are traditionally applied for various daily necessities in South Eastern Asia and papermaking in East Asia. It is named after Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet, an illustrious French naturist.
One of these is the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), whose bark fiber is used to make traditional paper in China, Korea, and Japan, and barkcloth among Austronesian cultures. This species has been widely introduced and has become invasive in some areas. Not only is paper mulberry used for paper making, but also other species are widely used in paper industry in those three countries' history. In fact, paper mulberry is not a major source of their traditional paper at least in Korea and Japan. Major material fibers of hanji (Korean paper) and washi (Japanese paper) come from Broussonetia × kazinoki. Broussonetia × kazinoki is known as only hybrid in Broussonetia genus between B. monoica and B. papyrifera.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Broussonetia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.