Maclura pomifera

Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) is a spiny tree with a short, thorny, crooked trunk, and a broad, rounded or irregular crown of spreading branches. It grows 30 ft - 50 ft tall, with a similarly wide crown. A member of the Mulberry family, it is a widely beneficial tree. Historically, it has been used for barbed fencing, archery bows, fibre dye, and livestock feed. The wood has good tensile and super compressed strength, it is used to make the best bows, hence the name "Bow-wood" or "Bois d'arc". Shredded wood will produce a yellow-orange dye when boiled in water.

The long green leaves (up to 9 inches) are shiny, and ovate, tapering to a narrow point. When the tree is mature the leaves turn a brilliant yellow in fall. Green blooms emerge in May and June, and are rather inconspicuous. They are followed by a bumpy fruit, the size and shape of an orange, that turns bright yellow green in the fall, and contains a latex sap. While edible, they are unpalatable. Male and female flowers on separate trees, so not all trees fruit. Although the flowering is dioecious, the pistillate tree when isolated will still bear large oranges, perfect to the sight but lacking the seeds.

Thrives best in full sun and moist soil. But it can tolerates poor and clay soils, drought, intense heat, cold, wind and pollution. Provides habitat for birds and cover for mammals. The Osage Orange is also commonly called Hedge Apple or Horse Apple.