Leaves: alternate, simple, 2 1/2-5" (6-13cm) long, 1 1/2-3" (4-7.5 cm) wide. Narrowly ovate, long-pointed; not toothed; hairless. Shiny dark green above, paler beneath; turning yellow in autumn.
Flower: tiny; greenish; crowded in rounded clusters less than 1" (2.5 cm) in diameter; male and female on separate trees in early spring.
Fruit: 3 1/2"-5" (9-13 cm) in diameter; a heavy yellow-green ball, hard and fleshy containing many light brown nutlets; maturing in autumn and soon falling.
Twig: brown, stout, with single spine 1/4-1" (0.6-2.5 cm) long at some nodes and short twigs or spurs.
Bark: gray or brown; thick, deeply furrowed into narrow forking ridges; inner bark of roots orange, separating into thin papery scales.
Form: Medium-sized, spiny tree with short, often crooked trunk, broad rounded or irregular crown of spreading branches.
Habitat: Moist soils of river valleys.
Range: The native range uncertain. Southwest Arkansas to east Oklahoma and Texas; widely planted and naturalized in eastern and northwestern states.
Location: North edge of Bunker Hill High School campus.
latitude - 39o02.49N
longitude - 089o57.69W
Rows of osage orange served as fences in the grassland before barb wire. Indians used the wood for bows. It is also used for fence posts. Early settlers extracted a yellow dye for cloth from the root bark. The fruit was eaten by livestock.
© Community Unit School District #8, Bunker Hill
504 E. Warren, Bunker Hill, IL 62014
References:
Little, Elbert L. Field Guide to Trees: Eastern Region. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1980.
Mohlenbrock, Robert H. Forest Trees of Illinois. Springfield, IL: 1992