by Jeffrey S. Pippen | Back to Jeff's Plant Page | Jeff's Nature Pages
Moraceae > Maclura (osage-orange) | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 Also known as Bow-wood and Hedge-apple, Osage-orange is native to a fairly restricted area of Arkansas, Oklahoma, & Texas, but it's been widely planted across the U.S. As the various common names indicate, it's been used to create living fences, and it's wood is superior for bow construction. | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 Leaves are simple, alternate, shiny, acuminate, and variable is size. | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 Osage Orange is a medium tree with a short, thick, dense trunk and an irregular and droopy crown. | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 Related to mulberries, the fruits are multiples of drupes and are relatively huge, larger than grapefruits! | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 Twigs are armed with black-tipped thorns and commonly sprout adventitiously. | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 | |
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) Orange Co., NC 24 Sep 2011 Bark is orange-brown and longitudinally fissured, eventually peeling into long strips. Note all of the adventitious sprouting along this leaning trunk. | |
Annotated habitat and distribution information listed above is from Radford, Ahles, & Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. UNC Press; and from personal observations and discussions with Will Cook, Harry LeGrand, and Bob Wilbur. Common names from personal experience and supplemented by the following resources USDA plants website, Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia, and NatureServe.
Created on ... June 8, 2008 | jeffpippen9@gmail.com