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Osage Orange Tree - Maclura pomifera
Moraceae -- Mulberry family
Osage-orange heartwood is the most decay-resistant of all North American
timbers and is immune to termites. Osage-orange produces no sawtimber,
pulpwood, or utility poles, but it has been planted in greater numbers
than almost any other tree species in North America.
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Osage-orange produces no sawtimber,
pulpwood, or utility poles, but it has been planted in
greater numbers than almost any other tree species in
North America. Known also as hedge, hedge-apple, bodark,
bois-d'arc, bowwood, and naranjo chino, it made
agricultural settlement of the prairies possible (though
not profitable), led directly to the invention of barbed
wire, and then provided most of the posts for the wire
that fenced the West. The heartwood, bark, and roots
contain many extractives of actual and potential value
in food processing, pesticide manufacturing, and
dyemaking. Osage-orange is used in landscape design,
being picturesque rather than beautiful, and possessing
strong form, texture, and character.
The natural range of Osage-orange is in the Red River
drainage of Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas; and in the
Blackland Prairies, Post Oak Savannas, and Chisos
Mountains of Texas. According to some authors the
original range included most of eastern Oklahoma,
portions of Missouri, and perhaps northwestern
Louisiana. Osage-orange has been planted as a hedge in
all the 48 contiguous States and in southeastern Canada.
The commercial range includes most of the country east
of the Rocky Mountains, south of the Platte River and
the Great Lakes, excluding the Appalachian Mountains. |

Oh, those wicked thorns.. they kept the cows out of the apple
orchard, all right.
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although Osage-orange is one of the
hetitlehiest tree species in North America, it is attacked
by some parasites. Cotton root rot, caused by
Phymatotrichum omnivorum, attacks Osage-orange and
most other windbreak species in Texas, Oklahoma, and
Arizona (59). Losses are greatest in plantings on dry
soil where rainfall is scant. Cotton root rot is the
only serious disease.
Osage-orange trees are attacked by at least four stem
borers: the mulberry borers (Doraschema wildii and D.
titleernatum), the painted hickory borer (Megacyllene
caryae), and the redshouldered hickory borer (Xylobiops
basilaris). The twigs are parasitized by several scale
insects including the European fruit lecanium
(Parthenolecanium corni), the walnut scale
(Quadraspidiotus juglansregiae) the cottony maple scale
(Pulvinaria innumerabilis) the terrapin scale
(Mesolecanium nigrofasciatum), and the San Jose scale
(Quadraspidiotus perniciosus) (25,46). The fruit-tree
leafroller (Archips argyrospilus) feeds on opening buds
and unfolding leaves. Osage-orange is attacked by, but
is not a principal host of, the fall webworm (Hyphantria
cunea) (55), an Eriophyid mite, Tegolophus spongiosus,
and the fourspotted spider mite, Tetranychus canadensis.
Osage-orange trees and several other species in 1 to
5-year-old plantations on old fields in the prairie
region of Illinois were partially or completely girdled
by mice. Severity of damage was greatest where weeds
were most abundant. |
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The outer layer of sapwood is very thin;
consequently, even small-diameter stems give long service as
stakes and posts (40,43). About 3 million posts were sold
annually in Kansas during the early 1970's. The branch wood
was used by the Osage Indians for making bows and is still
recommended by some archers today. The chemical properties
of the fruit, seed, roots, bark, and wood may be more
important than the structural qualities of the wood. A
number of extractives have been identified by researchers,
but they have not yet been employed by industry.
Numerous organic compounds have also been obtained from
various parts of the tree. An antifungal agent and a
nontoxic antibiotic useful as a food preservative have been
extracted from the heartwood. Osage-orange in prairie
regions provides valuable cover and nesting sites for quail,
pheasant, other birds, and animals, but the bitter-tasting
fruit is little eaten by wildlife. Reports that fruit causes
the death of livestock have been proven wrong by feeding
experiments in several States.
(USDA / Forest Service
Agriculture Handbook 654, Silvics of Forest Trees of the
United States, 1965, revised: December 1990)
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