Gnarly, Brain Fruit - Osage Orange Tree

 

This is our Osage Orange Tree, in Latin it’s the Maclura pomifera. It’s also called the bois-d'arc, bodark, bowwood, hedge apple or mockorange. That’s a lot of names for one tree! My Hooman loves this tree. It is actually her favorite tree on our land.

The local extension service employees took a field trip to come see it because they haven’t seen one this big. It turns out that our Osage tree is a bit smaller, though not by much, than the Grand National Champion Osage. The Champion is 54 feet tall and has a spread of about 90 feet. If the utility company hadn’t cut part of our tree, it would be bigger than a 90 feet spread. It is taller than 54 feet though. The extension service people said that it was here before the Civil war. That means our tree is over 150 years old!

 

Osage trees are pretty great from root to tip! The bark furnishes a yellow pigment that was used to dye khaki uniforms, it also produces tannin for making leather. The wood was sought after by the Native Americans to make bows, which is why the tree is also known as a bowwood tree. The wood is so resistant to insects and deterioration that it has been known to last over 100 years when used as fence posts or ship masts!

 

The branches are thorny. In fact, the thorns have been known to cause flat tires, even piercing thick tractor tires!

 Before the invention of barbed wire in the 1800’s, Osage hedges were woven together to keep livestock contained. An Osage orange hedge was considered "horse-high, bull-strong, and pig-tight," according to historian Paul Landacre in "A Natural History of Western Pennsylvania." The trees originated in Texas, Oklahoma & Kansas.

The branches have pretty leaves and little flowers. But the best part of the Osage tree? The fruit! It’s large like a grapefruit, green in color and looks like a brain. You can google it to see pictures. Rumor says that placing the fruit in the basement corners keeps the spiders out of your house. I’ve also heard that children use them for street bowling! The trees are either male or female. The male trees do not fruit. I do not know yet if my Hoomans tree is male or female, I won’t know until I’ve watched it throughout the season.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that we have a brain fruit tree. It goes well with the vampire coffin in the basement, the Cyclops spider in our well and the skeleton key I found when the Hoomans started renovating.