| A few specimens near weir and on Rose Way. Peculiar round fruit (similar
to an orange) is said to repel spiders and cockroaches. Early settlers
of the Great Plains used Osage-orange for hedgerows. The diffuse,
thorny branches form impenetrable hedges which were once used to fence
in livestock in the Great Plains Region of the United States. The Osage
Indians used the wood for dye and bows.
Osage-orange is a small, deciduous tree that averages 30 feet in height. It has a short trunk and rounded crown. Shade-killed lower branches remain on the tree for years, forming a dense thicket. Branches growing in full sun have sharp, stout thorns 0.5 to 1 inch long. Osage-orange is a pest and disease resistant tree. Wood extractives are used for food processing, pesticide manufacturing, and dye making. Osage-orange has a large, round multiple fruit composed of many fleshy calyces, each containing one seed. Osage-orange generally has a well-developed taproot; a tree in Oklahoma had roots more than 27 feet deep. On shallow soils, roots spread laterally. The tree must have access to lots of water to survive. Which could be the why we only have a few specimens growing on and near the bank of Outside Creek.
USDA Forest Service information on this species |
