What Is Osage Orange - Information About Osage Orange Trees

Osage orange, (Maclura pomifera), also called bowwood, French bois d'arc, thorny tree or shrub native to the south-central United States, the only species of its genus in the family Moraceae. The Osage orange is often trained as a hedge; when planted in rows along a boundary, it forms an effective spiny barrier.

What is Osage orange good for?

Uses of the Osage-Orange

The wood is used for fence posts, insulator pins, treenails, furniture, and archery bows. In fact, many archers consider the wood of the Osage-orange to be the world's finest wood for bows.

Can you eat Osage orange fruit?

Osage orange fruit, which has a fruity, citric fragrance, is inedible to humans, but squirrels seem to love it. The fruit has caused the death of quite a few cows and other livestock that try to swallow one whole.

Is Osage orange poisonous to humans?

The fruit is not poisonous to humans or livestock, but is not preferred by them, because it is mostly inedible due to a large size (about the diameter of a softball) and hard, dry texture.

Where does osage orange wood grow?

The Osage-orange, Maclura pomifera, is an ancient tree, a prehistoric survivor. Though related to the mulberry, it is alone in its genus, and is native to the North American continent, where it thrives in zones 5-9—across the Great Plains and up to Ontario.

What animal eats Osage orange?

Deer do eat Osage-oranges, but apparently mainly by munching fallen fruit late in the winter. Cows tend to choke on them. Squirrels strip out the seeds and eat them, so only dropped seeds are dispersed.

Are osage oranges poisonous to dogs?

Hedge apples are not poisonous to any animal, including dogs and cats. ... The hedge apple takes many different names, including the Osage orange, the Maclura pomifera and bodark. It is often labeled incorrectly as a hedge ball. In some places in Texas, the hedge apple is called a horse apple.

Will deer eat Osage orange?

As Christine and JM said, deer will absolutely eat them. A good friend of mine has killed his two largest deer under the same Osage Orange tree.

What happens if you eat a hedge apple?

Hedge apples, also known as osage oranges, are generally considered inedible. This is largely due to the unpalatable taste of its fruit despite its orange-like smell. However, hedge apples are non-poisonous. And those who can look past the hedge apple's bumpy, ugly exterior, eat its seeds.

Is Osage orange good firewood?

Osage orange firewood, also known as hedge, horse apple or bodark, is one of the best firewood types available. This oddly shaped tree does not grow very tall (roughly 26-49 feet) but its wood is extremely dense making it a great firewood choice.

Can a human eat a horse apple?

are hedge apples edible? Straighter answer is, hedge apples, also known as osage oranges are inedible. horse apple is inedible not because of its ugly taste and appearance but because of the latex the fruit secrets that can irritate the human skin.

How long does an Osage orange tree live?

Mature trees have trunks as thick as 2 feet in diameter. Osage orange has a short lifespan as compared to other trees, only living up to about 75 years.

Do hedge apples repel fleas?

ANSWER: Horse apples (also called Bois d'arc balls or Osage oranges) are the fruit of the native Bois d'arc tree. They seem to repel several insect pests including fleas. ... Adult fleas can be sprayed and killed with my fire ant mound drench formula.

Where can I buy osage oranges?

A: You can purchase Osage Orange, Maclura pomifera, at any local garden nursery; if they do not have it they should be willing to order it for you.

How do you propagate osage oranges?

If you want to try stem cuttings to propagate Osage orange, collect the cuttings mid- to late summer. Treat these leafy cuttings with rooting hormones and place them in a greenhouse propagation bed (maintaining high humidity to prevent leaf loss). You can also collect dormant cuttings in late fall and winter.

What is the hardest wood?

1. Australian Buloke – 5,060 IBF. An ironwood tree that is native to Australia, this wood comes from a species of tree occurring across most of Eastern and Southern Australia. Known as the hardest wood in the world, this particular type has a Janka hardness of 5,060 lbf.

Can horses eat osage oranges?

Right now the osage orange or bois d'arc (bodark) trees are dropping their fruit. The horses love these bumpy, ugly things and fight over them. The biggest ones barely fit in the horses' mouths. P-O-P go the "horse apples" as the horses crunch them into fibrous pieces and drool as they eat them.

Can you eat a hedge ball?

Sometimes they're used for decorating. They look a bit like human brains, and folklore says that they keep spiders away if you bring them inside. But the fruit is inedible, and most farmers consider them a pain.

Is Osage orange invasive?

Like many woody species Osage orange tends to have an invasive nature when exposed to poorly managed range and pasture land. It can be found on idle acres and on abandoned farm land near hedge row plantings.

Do hedge apples get rid of mice?

What are the Uses of Hedge Apples for Repelling Mice? Hedge apples have long been promoted as a natural and chemical free way to repel insects and small pests away from areas where they are unwanted.

How do you kill a hedge apple tree?

If the trees already exist in your yard, the only option may be to cut them down. According to Chism, several sources say Roundup can also be used to kill Osage-orange trees. "Just spray the leaves, not the branches. This will kill the tree all the way to the roots.

Do hedge apples keep snakes away?

Snakes are part of a healthy eco-system, they eat rodents, bugs, etc. Get rid of food sources of course and put Osage orange tree fruit aka "hedge apples" by entrances of crawl spaces, entrances, etc. ... You also get rid of a snakes' food source.