The Versatile Osage-Orange.

When Lewis and Clark set off to explore the Louisiana Territory, the first tree they sent back east from St. Louis was the osage-orange (Maclura pomifera). Native to a relatively small area in eastern Oklahoma and portions of Missouri, Texas, and Arkansas, it had been used for centuries by Native Americans for war clubs and bows.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries the tree was planted throughout the United States probably more than almost any other tree species in North America. Still considered the best wood for archer's bows, osage-orange was valued as a natural hedgerow fence, which made agricultural settlement of the prairies possible. It led directly to the invention of barbed wire in 1874, then provided most of the posts for the wire that fenced the West.

Known also as hedge, hedge apple, bodark (from the French bois d'arc, meaning wood of the bow), and bowwood, the osage-orange's name comes from the Osage Indian tribe, which lived near the tree's home range, and from the orange-like aroma of the ripened fruit. These trees are easily recognized by their glossy, lance-shaped leaves and stout, one-inch thorns, which give them value as fences for farm animals.

TREE PARTICULARS

Osage-orange can be either a shrub or a tree, depending on its surroundings. Standing alone in full sun it will become a multi-stemmed shrub; with neighboring competition it can become a single-stemmed tree. Although it is the only member of its genus (a monotype), it is cousin to the mulberry family (Moraceae).

The osage-orange averages a height of 30-25 feet, but heights of more than 60 feet have been recorded. Circumference can reach 4 to 7 feet, although 1.5 feet is the average, and the crown spread can reach 60 feet (with an average of 25 feet). The nation's biggest osage-orange, which stands outside the Virginia home of Patrick Henry, was grown from fruit sent back by Lewis and Clark and given to Henry's daughter, who planted it at Red Hill.

The bark, up to 3/4 inches thick, is light gray-brown tinged with orange. On large trees it separates into shaggy strips. Preferring open sunny areas, the tree can grow in a variety of soils and is considered hardy to Zone 5. Native to the south-central United States, it now can be found naturalized south of the Great Lakes and north of Florida, across the whale of eastern North America into the Great Plains states almost to the Rocky Mountains. Because it was used so extensively in our pioneer days, it can be found along western settlement trails and old fort locations, even in the Pacific Northwest.

The leaves of the osage-orange are thick, shiny, and simple, alternating along twigs. Dark green on top and light green underneath, the leaves of the osage-orange turn bright yellow in autumn.

The trees are either male or female, and only the females hear the rather ponderous fruit from rather small insignificant-looking flowers. Called "hedge apples," the fruit is a large, green-yellow wrinkled ball up to 6 inches in diameter. As it ripens in the fall, the fruit often hangs in the tree after all the leaves have fallen off. These large fruits can be somewhat dangerous if you happen to be standing directly under them when they fall.

The tree's fruits contain a chemical (2,3,4,5-tetrahydroxystilbene) that has been proven to repel many of those pesky insects that get into homes: cockroaches, crickets, spiders, fleas, box elder bugs, and ants. The chemical does not kill the insects but for some reason effectively repels them from the area where the fruit is located. Whole ripened fruit left sitting on the floor in places where insects are a problem will usually repel pests for up to two months.

For more immediate control, cut the fruit in half or crush it on the driveway with your car, then place it in a dish set in the pest problem area. This method is good for repelling insects for a few weeks.

The milky juice in the tree's stems and fruit may irritate some people's skin, especially after long periods of exposure. If you are working with the fruit to get seeds, for example, it is best to wear rubber gloves.

The bright orange wood is incredibly dense, making it ideal fence posts and railroad ties. It neither rots nor succumbs to termite or other insect attacks for decades. Osage-orange also makes valuable firewood, rating almost as high as coal in producing heat.

If burned green, osage-orange produces beautiful flames in a fireplace. Makers of game calls and musical instruments consider it a good "tone" wood; it's popular for duck and goose calls and preferred for musical instruments such as harps. Even the bark and roots have value: The root's bright orange bark makes yellow dye, and the trunk's ridged and scaly bark furnishes tannin for making leather.

IN THE LANDSCAPE

In landscape design osage-orange is viewed as more picturesque than beautiful. The tree possesses strong form, texture, and character, maturing with a thick, gnarled appearance--a good tree under which to sit and read Edgar Allan Poe. Several male thornless varieties of osage-orange are now on the market, used in home landscapes, along city streets, and in institutional settings.

Some places grow osage-orange specifically to produce fence posts. After the post material is harvested, the plants resprout and in five to 10 years produce more fence posts.

Osage-orange would probably even make a wonderful ornamental landscape mulch, although wood that dense would probably be hard on shredders. An osage-orange bush could be pruned every year to produce some mulch for home landscape use. It would probably last longer than any other mulch sold today.

IN THE HEDGEROW

During the 1800s farmers planted thousands of miles of osage-orange hedges to keep their animals in place, more than a quarter-million miles worth by one estimate. In 1850 a bushel of osage-orange seed cost $50--a lot of money in those days. The trees were planted close, woven together, and aggressively pruned to promote a low, bushy, thorny hedge.

A workable fence took only four or five years to grow and was described as "horse high, bull strong, and hog tight." The hedge needed to be tall enough to stop a horse from jumping over it, stout enough to keep a bull from pushing through it, and the branching tight enough to prevent a hog from wending its way through it. Most hedgerows stood about 40 feet tall and 30 to 40 feet across; quite a barrier indeed.

For 20 years, I have advocated what I call the "suburban hedgerow." The osage-orange would be a wonderful component to that concept, providing a dense, thorny barrier--just as the hawthorn did in European hedgerows of the Middle Ages.

As American cities continue to sprawl, causing forests to become more fragmented, perhaps the osage-orange could serve as a means to connect the fragments. My suburban hedgerow concept calls for an 8- to 12-foot-wide hedgerow that would replace a 700-foot fence between two one-acre properties in new developments. Two neighbors would share this new, green "fence." Deliberately planted as a hedgerow, it would be made up of regionally appropriate shade trees, understory trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses. The design is attractive, low-maintenance once established, and serves as a bridge between wooded areas for mammals, birds, insects, and amphibians.

Because osage-orange grows relatively quickly, I would make it a candidate for my suburban homestead plans, but I would insist upon male trees so I could get the thorus. Some people might even want "messy" female trees. The fruits make good outdoor Christmas ornaments or could be used as insect pest repellents in the winter.

Old hedgerows that have survived over the past 100 years and are no longer needed to fence in farm animals now serve as habitat islands for many creatures that otherwise might not be found in the midwestern prairies.

In 1948, Kansas alone still had about 96,000 miles of osage-orange hedgerows. While not particularly attractive as a food source for wildlife, old osage-orange hedgerows offer superior cover and protection for many birds, small mammals, and insects.

There is one exception, though: squirrels. Squirrels will go to great lengths to get at osage-orange seeds, each of which is covered by its own individual shell. After the squirrels have had their treat, piles of shredded hedge apples remain around the base of the tree.

PLANTING

The best way to propagate osageorange is through stem or root cuttings, although the seeds will grow and you can reproduce trees from root sprouts. To successfully collect seeds and grow seedlings you must locate fruiting females with several neighboring males. Fruits can be collected from the ground anytime after they fall until just before spring.

In pioneer days, people used to crush a number of usage-orange fruits and make them into a slurry that was then poured into a plowed shallow furrow and covered with about 1/2 inch of soil. Following this method would get you well started with a hedgerow.

PROBLEMS

If the tree's extensive and tough root system causes it to become invasive in residential areas, try cutting down all trees and sprouts for two years in a row.

The tree itself is tough with few problems. Occasionally it can be attacked by leafy mistletoc, verticillium wilt, fungal diseases, stem borers, scale, and some rodents. Generally, though, it lives a trouble-free life in the home landscape.

Jeff Ball appears on NBC's "Today Show" as a gardening expert and writes books and articles on gardening. He also writes online for gardener.com.