Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) is an unique tree
found in abandoned areas and
unexpected places. It represents a long American story of
planting, transport, use and
survival in new locations.
A relatively fast-growing, stress-tolerant tree, it’s almost
unknown and unused in
communities. But it’s readily found in many locations. Osage
orange could be the next
great community tree.
Thornless male trees make tough, stress-resistant shade and
street trees.
Prized in
Agriculture
Probably the most noticeable feature of Osage orange is the
fruit produced by female
trees. The yellow-green fruit is round and 3 to 5 inches in
diameter. It resembles a large
orange or a monstrous mulberry. The fruit is a dense, round
cluster of many one-seeded
pulp sacks.
Once discovered by early European settlers, it was carried
across the continent.
Because of its attributes, it was prized anywhere agriculture and
grazing animals were
found.
It is now considered escaped from cultivation and naturalized
in many areas. Solitary
trees or small family groups can be found on old home sites and
along roadways.
Bows, Tools, War
Clubs
Osage orange isn’t an orange tree. It’s actually a mulberry.
It’s known by a number of
common names, many representing specific uses: bois d’arc,
bodark, bodock, bowwood, fence
shrub, hedge, hedge apple, hedge orange, horse-apple, mock
orange, naranjo chino and
postwood.
The historic uses of Osage orange followed the path of
European settlement on this
continent and the rise of traditional agriculture.
The first uses recorded were from native Americans (the Osage
tribe) in the Red River
Valley area of Oklahoma. The Osage used Osage orange for bows,
tool handles and war clubs.
Corrals, Field
Hedges
Early trappers and frontiersmen recognized the tough, dense
wood as ideal for their own
archery bows and handles.
The first planted uses were for animal corrals and field
hedges. The dense growth as a
shrub, the tough wood and the short, sharp thorns together proved
effective at controlling
domestic grazing animals.
It is suggested that barbed wire was inspired by the spiny
Osage orange. Except in bad
years, animals would not graze the spiny, bitter-tasting, tough
twigs and foliage.
Decay-resistant
Wood
Osage orange is the densest and most decay-resistant wood in
North America. The
extremely durable heartwood was used for wheel hubs, fence posts
and railroad ties.
The bark could be used for leather tanning and extracting
(mainly from root bark) a
yellow tannin dye for clothes and baskets. The fruits and sap
were used as a pesticide.
The wood was so dense it was hard to cut and work. It burned
more like coal than other
lighter woods, requiring a coal grate inside a stove.
American Botanical
Mystery
One of the botanical mysteries of this continent is
identifying the native growing
range of Osage orange. The historic range is unclear because it
was moved and planted
extensively before detailed botanical surveys were conducted. It
quickly escaped
cultivation and started to reproduce and thrive in many new
places across the continent.
The commonly accepted native range is the three-state area of
southwest Arkansas,
southeast Oklahoma and northeast and east Texas. Ecologically,
Osage orange grew in open,
rich, bottom-land forests centered around the Red River Valley of
Oklahoma.
Today, Osage orange can be found naturalized in Georgia. It
grows everywhere south of
the Great Lakes and north of Florida, across the whole of eastern
North America into the
Great Plains states, almost to the Rocky Mountains. Other
naturalized populations are
found along Western settlement trails, forts and settler
locations in the Pacific
Northwest.
Osage orange has been bundled and dragged across the nation —
east to west and north
to south — because of its uniqueness and utility. It has
traveled widely and has been a
part of our history.
