Maclura pomifera

COMMON NAME: Osage-orange; Hedge-apple; "Bois d'Arc.

FAMILY: Mulberry Family; Moraceae

GROWTH HABIT: Medium-sized tree (20 - 40- ft.) with a comparable spread. usually develops a short trunk and low, rounded irregular crown composed of stiff, spiny, interlacing branches; some of the branches show a pendulous tendency.

FOLIAGE: Alternate, simple, deciduous. Ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 2 - 5 in. long, about one-half as wide, entire, broad-cuneate to subcordate at base, glabrous, lustrous bright green; petiole 1/2 to 1 1/2 in. long.

BUDS: Absent terminal bud, laterals are small, globular, brown, depressed and partially embedded in the bark.

BARK: Yellow-brown bark with irregular longitudinal fissures and scaly ridges on old bark.

FLOWERS: Dioecious; female born in June in dense globose heads of short penduncles; male in subglobose or sometimes elongated racemes.

FRUIT: A large, globose fruit, the size of an orange, mostly falling green. Not edible; considered poisonous to livestock.

NATIVE HABITAT: Arkansas to Oklahoma and Texas.