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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Osage-orange
| image = Maclura pomifera2.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Osage-orange foliage and fruit
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Rosales]]
| familia = [[Moraceae]]
| genus = ''Maclura''
| species = '''''M. pomifera'''''
| binomial = ''Maclura pomifera''
| binomial_authority = ([[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Raf.]]) Schneid.
}}
The '''Osage-orange''' (''Maclura pomifera'') is a [[plant]] in the [[mulberry]] family [[Moraceae]]. It is also known as '''Osage-apple''', '''mock orange''', '''hedge-apple''', '''horse-apple''', '''hedge ball''', '''bois d'arc''', '''bodark''' (mainly in [[Oklahoma]] and [[Texas]]), and '''bow wood'''. Common slang terms for it include '''monkey brain''', '''monkey ball''', '''monkey orange''', and '''brain fruit''' due to its brainlike appearance.
The species is [[Plant sexuality|dioeceous]], with male and female [[flower]]s on different plants. It is a small [[deciduous]] [[tree]] or large [[shrub]], typically growing to 8-15 m tall. The [[fruit]], a ''syncarp'' of [[achene]]s, is roughly spherical, but bumpy, and 7-15 cm in diameter, and it is filled with a sticky white [[Latex (rubber)|latex]] sap. In fall, its color turns a bright yellow-green and it has a faint odor similar to that of [[orange (fruit)|oranges]].<ref>Mabberley, D.J. 1987. ''The Plant Book. A portable dictionary of the higher plants''. [[Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge. 706 p. ISBN 0-521-34060-8.</ref>
''Maclura pomifera'' is the sole surviving member of the genus ''Maclura''—of its many relatives from past geologic eras, only fossils remain. It is also, however, a member of the family ''Moraceae'', which encompasses the [[Mulberry|mulberries]] and the [[Ficus|figs]], as well as a large number of tropical and semitropical trees. <ref>Dave Wayman, [http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1985-03-01/All-About-the-Osage-Orange.aspx "All About the Osage Orange"] [[Mother Earth News]] (March/April 1985)</ref>
The fruits have a pleasant and mild odor, but are inedible for the most part. Although not strongly poisonous, eating it may cause vomiting. The fruits are sometimes torn apart by [[squirrels]] to get at the seeds, but few other native animals make use of it as a food source. This is unusual, as most large fleshy fruits serve the function of [[seed|seed dispersal]], accomplished by their consumption by large animals. One recent [[hypothesis]] is that the Osage-orange fruit was eaten by a giant [[ground sloth]] that became [[extinct]] shortly after the first human settlement of North America. Other extinct [[Pleistocene megafauna]], like the [[mammoth]], [[mastodon]] and [[gomphothere]] may have fed on the fruit and aided in seed dispersal.<ref>Connie Barlow. Anachronistic Fruits and the Ghosts Who Haunt Them. ''[[Arnoldia]]'', vol. 61, no. 2 (2001)</ref> An [[equine]] species that went extinct at the same time also has been suggested as the plant's original dispersal mechanism because modern horses and other livestock will sometimes eat the fruit.<ref>Connie Barlow and Paul Martin, 2002. ''The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms'', which covers the now-extinct large herbivores with which fruits like Osage-orange and [[Avocado]] co-evolved in the Western Hemisphere.</ref>
==History==
The plant is native to an area in the central [[United States]] consisting of parts of [[Kansas]], [[Missouri]], [[Arkansas]], southeastern [[Oklahoma]], a narrow belt in eastern [[Texas]], and the extreme northwest corner of [[Louisiana]], but was not common anywhere. It was a curiosity when [[Meriwether Lewis]] sent some slips and cuttings to [[Thomas Jefferson|President Jefferson]] in March [[1804]]. The samples, donated by "Mr. [[Peter Choteau]], who resided the greater portion of his time for many years with the [[Osage Nation]] according to Lewis' letter, didn't take, but later the thorny Osage-orange was widely naturalized th
roughout the U.S.<ref>''[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]'' March 2004, p. 35.</ref>
The trees picked up the name ''bois d'arc'', or "bow-wood", because early [[France|French]] settlers observed the wood being used for bow-making by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. The people of the [[Osage Nation]] "esteem the wood of this tree for the making of their bows, that they travel many hundred miles in quest of it," [[Meriwether Lewis]] was told in 1804.
==Uses==
[[Image:Osage_orange_1.jpg|right|244px||thumb|left|Osage-orange fruit]] The sharp-thorned trees were planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of [[barbed wire]]. The heavy, closely grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, [[tree]] nails, fence posts, [[electrical insulators]], and other applications requiring a strong dimensionally-stable wood that withstands rot. Straight-grained osage timber (most is knotty and twisted) makes very good bows. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket. Additionally, a yellow-orange [[dye]] can be extracted from the wood, which can be used as a substitute for [[fustic]] and [[aniline]] dyes. When dried, the wood also makes excellent fire wood that burns long and hot.
Today, the fruit is sometimes used to deter spiders, cockroaches, [[boxelder bug]]s, crickets, fleas, and other insects. Using the fruit in this fashion, at least for spiders, has been debunked.[http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/skineggs.html#hedgeapple] However, hedge apple ''oil'' has been shown to effectively repel cockroaches (University of Iowa, 2004), and the fruit may indeed have an effect of repelling cockroaches and boxelder bugs.
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*[http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/maclura/pomifera.htm Osage-orange factsheet] from the [[United States Forest Service]]
*[http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1997/10-10-1997/hedgeapple.html Facts and Myths Associated with "Hedge Apples"] from an [[Iowa State University]] website
*[http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/mapo.htm ''Maclura pomifera'' images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu]
*[http://www.thegreatstory.org/anachronistic_fruits/index.html ''Anachronistic fruits'']
[[Category:Moraceae]]
| color = lightgreen
| name = Osage-orange
| image = Maclura pomifera2.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Osage-orange foliage and fruit
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Rosales]]
| familia = [[Moraceae]]
| genus = ''Maclura''
| species = '''''M. pomifera'''''
| binomial = ''Maclura pomifera''
| binomial_authority = ([[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Raf.]]) Schneid.
}}
The '''Osage-orange''' (''Maclura pomifera'') is a [[plant]] in the [[mulberry]] family [[Moraceae]]. It is also known as '''Osage-apple''', '''mock orange''', '''hedge-apple''', '''horse-apple''', '''hedge ball''', '''bois d'arc''', '''bodark''' (mainly in [[Oklahoma]] and [[Texas]]), and '''bow wood'''. Common slang terms for it include '''monkey brain''', '''monkey ball''', '''monkey orange''', and '''brain fruit''' due to its brainlike appearance.
The species is [[Plant sexuality|dioeceous]], with male and female [[flower]]s on different plants. It is a small [[deciduous]] [[tree]] or large [[shrub]], typically growing to 8-15 m tall. The [[fruit]], a ''syncarp'' of [[achene]]s, is roughly spherical, but bumpy, and 7-15 cm in diameter, and it is filled with a sticky white [[Latex (rubber)|latex]] sap. In fall, its color turns a bright yellow-green and it has a faint odor similar to that of [[orange (fruit)|oranges]].<ref>Mabberley, D.J. 1987. ''The Plant Book. A portable dictionary of the higher plants''. [[Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge. 706 p. ISBN 0-521-34060-8.</ref>
''Maclura pomifera'' is the sole surviving member of the genus ''Maclura''—of its many relatives from past geologic eras, only fossils remain. It is also, however, a member of the family ''Moraceae'', which encompasses the [[Mulberry|mulberries]] and the [[Ficus|figs]], as well as a large number of tropical and semitropical trees. <ref>Dave Wayman, [http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1985-03-01/All-About-the-Osage-Orange.aspx "All About the Osage Orange"] [[Mother Earth News]] (March/April 1985)</ref>
The fruits have a pleasant and mild odor, but are inedible for the most part. Although not strongly poisonous, eating it may cause vomiting. The fruits are sometimes torn apart by [[squirrels]] to get at the seeds, but few other native animals make use of it as a food source. This is unusual, as most large fleshy fruits serve the function of [[seed|seed dispersal]], accomplished by their consumption by large animals. One recent [[hypothesis]] is that the Osage-orange fruit was eaten by a giant [[ground sloth]] that became [[extinct]] shortly after the first human settlement of North America. Other extinct [[Pleistocene megafauna]], like the [[mammoth]], [[mastodon]] and [[gomphothere]] may have fed on the fruit and aided in seed dispersal.<ref>Connie Barlow. Anachronistic Fruits and the Ghosts Who Haunt Them. ''[[Arnoldia]]'', vol. 61, no. 2 (2001)</ref> An [[equine]] species that went extinct at the same time also has been suggested as the plant's original dispersal mechanism because modern horses and other livestock will sometimes eat the fruit.<ref>Connie Barlow and Paul Martin, 2002. ''The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms'', which covers the now-extinct large herbivores with which fruits like Osage-orange and [[Avocado]] co-evolved in the Western Hemisphere.</ref>
==History==
The plant is native to an area in the central [[United States]] consisting of parts of [[Kansas]], [[Missouri]], [[Arkansas]], southeastern [[Oklahoma]], a narrow belt in eastern [[Texas]], and the extreme northwest corner of [[Louisiana]], but was not common anywhere. It was a curiosity when [[Meriwether Lewis]] sent some slips and cuttings to [[Thomas Jefferson|President Jefferson]] in March [[1804]]. The samples, donated by "Mr. [[Peter Choteau]], who resided the greater portion of his time for many years with the [[Osage Nation]] according to Lewis' letter, didn't take, but later the thorny Osage-orange was widely naturalized th
roughout the U.S.<ref>''[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]'' March 2004, p. 35.</ref>
The trees picked up the name ''bois d'arc'', or "bow-wood", because early [[France|French]] settlers observed the wood being used for bow-making by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. The people of the [[Osage Nation]] "esteem the wood of this tree for the making of their bows, that they travel many hundred miles in quest of it," [[Meriwether Lewis]] was told in 1804.
==Uses==
[[Image:Osage_orange_1.jpg|right|244px||thumb|left|Osage-orange fruit]] The sharp-thorned trees were planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of [[barbed wire]]. The heavy, closely grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, [[tree]] nails, fence posts, [[electrical insulators]], and other applications requiring a strong dimensionally-stable wood that withstands rot. Straight-grained osage timber (most is knotty and twisted) makes very good bows. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket. Additionally, a yellow-orange [[dye]] can be extracted from the wood, which can be used as a substitute for [[fustic]] and [[aniline]] dyes. When dried, the wood also makes excellent fire wood that burns long and hot.
Today, the fruit is sometimes used to deter spiders, cockroaches, [[boxelder bug]]s, crickets, fleas, and other insects. Using the fruit in this fashion, at least for spiders, has been debunked.[http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/skineggs.html#hedgeapple] However, hedge apple ''oil'' has been shown to effectively repel cockroaches (University of Iowa, 2004), and the fruit may indeed have an effect of repelling cockroaches and boxelder bugs.
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*[http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/maclura/pomifera.htm Osage-orange factsheet] from the [[United States Forest Service]]
*[http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1997/10-10-1997/hedgeapple.html Facts and Myths Associated with "Hedge Apples"] from an [[Iowa State University]] website
*[http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/mapo.htm ''Maclura pomifera'' images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu]
*[http://www.thegreatstory.org/anachronistic_fruits/index.html ''Anachronistic fruits'']
[[Category:Moraceae]]
