AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Hedge apples1/27/2024 ![]() Early French explorers called it bois d'arc-French for “bow-wood”-which eventually became bodark. Regardless, European settlers took notice of the plant. ![]() But others think that the Native Americans who traded it, especially the Osage peoples for whom it’s named, would have had an incentive to trade the wood but not the fruits, since the tree’s restricted range gave them more or less exclusive access. Native Americans may have helped spread the tree and might have traded in its fruits or cuttings in addition to its wood, Kimmerer says. It’s easy to split, fragrant, easily forms coals, and doesn’t smoke much. The wood is also extremely resistant to decay and has the highest heating value of any native species, making it an ideal firewood. According to one early 19th century account, one bow would set you back a horse and a blanket. Department of Agriculture notes, Osage orange has the highest work to maximum load value of any wood by far, meaning it has the rare combination of strength and flexibility. Native Americans valued the plant highly and used it for archery bows and war clubs. Pre-settlement trees have also been found in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, says Tom Kimmerer, an independent forest scientist, consultant, and author based in Lexington, Kentucky. Once the glaciers retreated around 12,000 years ago, the Osage orange did not quickly re-expand to the north like many other tree species-and in fact may have continued to shrink in range.īefore Europeans arrived, large populations of the tree were mostly restricted to portions of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and possibly small parts of Kansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. ![]() But then, starting around 125,000 years ago, glaciers advanced south to cover much of North America. They also smell nice, somewhat floral, with hints of orange blossoms, pears, apples, and cloves.īefore the last Ice Age, the Osage orange had a vast distribution, from Florida north to Ontario. They’re fun to hold, improbably large with a brain-like texture, and fun to throw. Like most kids I was drawn to the strange, fern-green fruits. Or so I felt growing up in Champaign, Illinois, coming across a remarkable Osage orange with huge low-slung branches, perfect for climbing, in a city park. Today Osage orange trees are not uncommon, but they tend to be sparsely distributed, and seeing one is a treat. But she may not have known its incredible backstory. Queen Victoria is said to have tasted one of the glowing green fruits. The Osage orange has been the subject of national manias, presidential discussions, and scientific controversy. The tree also forms nigh impenetrable hedges, which made it a primary tool for settling the Midwest and Great Plains. This rare combination makes it the world’s best wood for archery bows. ![]() Take its wood, for example: It burns hotter than any other in North America, resists decay better than any other in the world, and is both flexible and incredibly strong. More recently the Osage orange has managed to spread by appealing to humans. Some researchers think that the tree was once spread by extinct megafauna, perhaps giant ground sloths or mastodons, and that these fruits evolved to their ponderous size to appeal to these vanished giants. Though a couple animals, mainly squirrels, sometimes eat the seeds hidden inside the green flesh, they do not disperse them far. Not many animals or humans eat these neither-oranges-nor-apples. Even more confusingly, the most common name for their fruit is hedge apple (though they’re also called horse apples, Irish snowballs, or monkey brains). Osage orange trees are not related to oranges they’re more closely related to mulberries. On top of that they have a strange story that few people know. For one thing, they’re the size of softballs-the largest fruit of any tree native to North America. When the fruits of the Osage orange tree fall to the ground in autumn, they demand notice.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |