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September 1996
Osage Orange
Horse
apples— that is one name for the balls of the Osage Orange tree.
The tree is also called the Bois D’Arc tree, because it was used
by the Osage to make bows. Bois means wood, and d’arc means of
the arc or of the bow. The tree is named by taxonomist, Maclura Pomifera,
after a famous biologist, James MaClure. It is called Pomifera because
of the large fruit it bears in the fall, actually they are being produced
right now. They are green, sticky pulpy things the seed of which is
eaten by the squirrels, but not by people. The wood is orangey yellow.
People have used, and maybe still do, use the bark of the root as a
yellow dye. The bark of the trunk is rough and fibrous. It has been
used for tanning leather. How this is done, I do not know. The tree
is very thorny and straight. It has been grown at times as a living
fence. I visited Comfort, Texas, where the Guadalupe river crosses I
35, last weekend. I visited the old trees which line main street. I
was even able to take some pictures of them, gather a few balls, pick
a leaf, and get stuck by a thorn. Some people are allergic to the sappy
wood of the bois d’arc tree.
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