Osage Silk Thorn - x Macludrania hybrida

Osage Silk Thorn - x Macludrania hybrida André
Mulberry Family: Moraceae
This is the only known hybrid of the Osage Orange.
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This Morton Arboretum specimen, from a cutting, is 9 years old.

The only known hybrid of the Osage Orange tree, Maclura pomifera, x Macludrania hybrida André, is an intergeneric cross: x Macludrania = Cudrania x Maclura. Cudrania tricuspidata (Carr.) Bureau is a spiny shrub or small tree, native to China, Japan, and Korea. The Maclura parent is variety inermis. The hybrid is a small tree with yellowish furrowed bark and short, woody spines. [1]

Those wicked thorn are born also by its parent, the Osage Orange

Compare to parent: Osage Orange, a tree widely planted in early America as a hedgerow before the advent of barbed wire.

References

J.D. Burton, USDA Forest Service Silvic Manual, Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid.
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY, National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees--E: Eastern Region, Chanticleer Press Ed (Knopf, 1980).