The Osage Orange

[rwsaunders]

Nat Geo has an interesting article about a frequent road hazard that I encounter every Fall...the Osage Orange (aka monkey balls in my youth).

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/e...02057533FD3D37

[SlowPokePete]

Thread title change is in order.

SPP

[Mabouya]

On one of my routes there's a tree right next to the road that drops them right in your path. Lots of squish debris from the cars.

Not being from the area, I've often wondered what they were. Now I know.

Edit: Something else just occurred to me. The tree I'm referring to is in the MO river flood plain, just a few miles away from where a few years ago they discovered Native American artifacts dating back to the days of the Cahokia Mounds people, so around the 11th and 12 centuries. I wonder if the direct ancestors of that tree provided wood for bow-making way back then...

[hampco]

Same as "bodark"?

[j44ke]

Same as "bodark"?

Yep.

[Mabouya]

From Google Street View:

No fruit on the road, but you can see the stains.

Centaur Rd image.jpg

[Mabouya]

Safe for cycling (today)! I zoomed in, and you can see them at the edge of the road:

close up.jpg

[Noteddy]

BEB4AE27-0496-4C49-B5C0-A24B1055E07A.jpgCommon here along the original hedgerows where they were planted 150 years ago. A gravel race along a level-B (dirt) road negotiated thousands of the fallen fruit during a bumper crop one year. 40mm tires are not up to the task.
Local grocery store occasionally offer them for sale in the fall to those who enjoy the insect-repellent myth.

[claritycycler]

Nat Geo has an interesting article....

Very interesting article.

[rwsaunders]

I took this pic for Pete a few months ago...my riding buds and I have running commentaries when we ride by the known “monkey ball drop zones”.

[bigbill]

Bois d'arc trees were everywhere when I was growing up. You haven't lived until you've taken one upside your head. The wood from the tree is very hard and mostly impervious to insects. I grew up in a house built by my great-great-grandfather in the 1880s. Built in the pier and beam style, the piers were bois d'arc wood.

[ides1056]

I collected these in Central Park and planted them where I live, which proved to be just outside their range. But the Oaks, Tulip Poplars, Hickory and Paw-Paw have thrived. Acorns I planted thirty-five years ago are now seventy foot tall trees in some instances.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Bois d'arc trees were everywhere when I was growing up. You haven't lived until you've taken one upside your head.

Dangerous territory between two groups of boys firing hedge apples at one another. Been there.

[jmgorman]

Well, if anyone wants to try growing them, let me know. I have two trees that shed fruit by the bushel.

[j44ke]

BEB4AE27-0496-4C49-B5C0-A24B1055E07A.jpgCommon here along the original hedgerows where they were planted 150 years ago. A gravel race along a level-B (dirt) road negotiated thousands of the fallen fruit during a bumper crop one year. 40mm tires are not up to the task.
Local grocery store occasionally offer them for sale in the fall to those who enjoy the insect-repellent myth.

That's a great piece of botanical history there. I was told once that if you used green wood from an Osage orange tree, it would root into the soil and create a living fence. But I think that was farmer humor. Those hedgerows were, as you say, planted on purpose to be barriers between fields.

Similarly rot resistant is black locust, which is also a yellow wood. Wonder if the color is a sign of some chemistry that also makes them rot resistant.

[dashDustin]

I live off Osage St. Not a single horse apple, though.

[thollandpe]

I was told once that if you used green wood from an Osage orange tree, it would root into the soil and create a living fence. But I think that was farmer humor.

Similarly rot resistant is black locust, which is also a yellow wood. Wonder if the color is a sign of some chemistry that also makes them rot resistant.

A friend built a compost pen from black locust. Several of the uprights sprouted.

There was a place on Green River Rd in Guilford VT, right on the Detoo Artoo route, that specialized in black locust. It's amazing stuff.

PS https://www.blacklocustlumber.com/about-the-tree/

[Marvinlungwitz]

About 20 years ago, we were approached about a start up that wanted to use these things as a biofuel source.
We passed.

I’ve never heard anything more about them as an energy source, so I assume we made a correct decision.

[ides1056]

Locust is an all-around useful tree. I've used it for fence posts extensively, and run into boards for woodshed floors and the like. Great firewood. Easy to split. High on the BTU chart.

I've a good sized piece of Osage Orange I milled, and it is a pretty wood. Good choice for fly rod handles, etc.

[ElvisMerckx]

My youngest is an avid bushcraft bowyer and osage is his gold standard working material. We've even started our own plantation but are at least 3-4 years away from any workable staves.