IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION: Male and female trees grow to about 50 feet in height and have strong spines on the stems. It is definitely native to the Great Blackland Prairies of Texas. Bois d’ arc reaches its largest size in the Red River and Trinity River Valleys in northern Texas. According to Benny Simpson’s book A Field Guide to Texas Trees, it is difficult to tell where the plant is native because it has been planted in so many areas. Bois d’ Arc does better in deep soils with more moisture than the very shallow rocky soils. Bois d’ arc is well known for growing in fence rows and has been widely used as a windbreak plant because of its tendency to form thickets.
It favors stream bottoms and low areas and can become a weedy invader of disturbed land. Bois D’ Arc is native to Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas and plentiful throughout the Red River Valley.
Are hedge apples edible full#
NATURAL HABITAT AND PREFERRED SITE: Needs full sun. OTHER COMMON NAMES: OSAGE-ORANGE, HORSE APPLE, BOW WOOD, HEDGE APPLE, BODARK, YELLOW WOOD, NARANJO CHINOįINAL SPACING: Probably shouldn’t plant in most cases. 28, 2017.Print This Page Horse Apples - Bois 'd arc fruitīois d'Arc Maclura pomifera (ma-CLUE-ra pon-IF-er-ah) Moraceae (Mulberry Family) Or, you might be able to gather one in the wild and plant it to see what happens. The latter says the tree is out of stock. There are a few online sources that sell the tree: in Michigan and in Nebraska. You can sometimes find osage orange fruits at farmers markets or roadside stands. Remember that part about not wanting an osage orange to hit the car? Of course, I moved mine. For instance, there’s one along the edge of a parking lot at the Chase Legacy Building on Indianapolis’ east side, near Tech High School. Squirrels, deer, cattle and horses are fond of the fruits.Īlthough we think of osage orange trees as rural or roadside species, they do show up in urban areas. The seeds are the only parts edible for humans, but they are mess to get to, fingers in slime and all that. Inch-long spines along the branches reduced human and animal interference.įolklore ascribes spider-fighting powers to these chartreuse fruits, prompting some people to put them in their garage or attic to ward off eight- and six-legged critters. The name hedge apple comes from its use as a hedge, in part to define property lines. He found the tree scattered throughout the state, but primarily in southern and central Indiana. Osage orange “was early introduced into Indiana for use as a fence in the prairie areas,” the state’s first forester Charles C. Like hollies, a male and female plant is needed for fruit production. Rot resistant, it was used to make wheel rims and mining supports. The wood of this 50-foot tall tree is prized by archers for arrows – one of its common names is bow wood.
Used by Native Americans, osage orange’s native range is Oklahoma and Texas, but the species has spread throughout much of the Midwest and New England due to cultivation. Or you don’t want one to fall on your car. Orange, apple and pomifera make it sound all fruity doesn’t it? But the 5-inch diameter chartreuse fruit easily weighs a pound, and you don’t want to get beaned by one. Take the legendary osage orange, aka hedge apple ( Maclura pomifera). Poison isn’t the only way plants can kill you.