This is one of the tree varieties on our property I’m going to start propagating. Apparently there is a technique used by the early settlers when creating a living hedge with it that is fairly quick and easy, if I can steer clear of the vicious thorns.
Osage orange (Maclura pomifera), also known as Bois d’ arc, Hedge Apple or Horse Apple, is a member of the Moraceae family, to which figs, mulberries, breadfruit and jackfruit also belong, and is native to the south-central United States. This thorny, fast-growing, medium-sized tree or shrub which grows up to 20m (60′), tall, but is […]
What is Osage Orange, and is it Edible? — Deep Green Permaculture
Kensho Homestead 
You got me curious so I typed in “Osage Orange trees” for a search & I got hundreds of hits. It’ll take a month of Sunday’s to check them out. It looks like there’s multiple uses for the fruit & wood. It sounds like the wood itself is really hard & can be used for fence posts, furniture, etc. Interesting history also as the plains area planted thousands for windbreaks. Info could go on for ages but all interesting. As for being edible, check out the recipes also in the search . These trees have been around forever.
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Excellent, thank you! Excited about this project!
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One more….this is from magical hoof. your right. i did use it long ago. it is how i got the info to dehydrate. it works though!! i really like the magical hoof info.
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sorry…one more…this is from the original site i got info from. though the original site itself is gone. the pdf isn’t.
Click to access JUDY_MULLINS_-_CANCER_CURE_REPORTS.pdf
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here is one site. i didn’t use Magical Hoof. The site i got on originally has been taken down. what a surprise huh…Censorship hard at work. this is another that i thought interesting and gives pretty good info and links on it.
http://racehorseherbal.net/osageorange.html and another that i found. http://hedgeappleman.homestead.com/Articles.html
it is a really pretty tree. the thorns on it could probably be needles…they are long and sharp…true citrus trees have long thorns on them as well. i love the smell of it. freeze one..shred it with a cheese grater and eat the teaspoonful. or dry it, powder and capsule it. great for inflammation.
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Thanks for the great info! It was actually one of your posts a while ago that first put this tree on my radar at all. I read that about the bows, but hadn’t heard of the medicinal qualities. Do you have any good books/sources to recommend on that? I bet she’s got it on Magical Hoof, will have to check there, too.
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we have those trees. i make a medicine out of the fruit. my cows and horses love them. i have been told they can choke on them but mine never have. i suspect animals starved for fresh fruit might eat them too quickly and suffer the consequences but mine never have. I dehydrate them and powder them and put them in gel caps. excellent source of vitamins and cancer fighting as well. Bonus. it smells wonderful though it does leak a sap. a resin that is sticky.
the wood is the hardest wood you can find. when it ages it becomes like granite..you can’t cut it with the sharpest saw! and beautiful orange color. we get floods in our creek which bring us piles of downed trees to use. Osage orange is one of them. The native americans used to make bows out of it.
the seeds are easy to propagate. an excellent tree to have.
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