Hi Bill, Also Mike Price and others -- well quite a group of comments
about Osage Orange. After, I dropped my comments and went and tried to
find my books without success but did find Petersen's "Western Trees" guide
and it dealt with OO! The Remarks section said, "Once native in n. Texas,
se Oklahoma and nearby Ark., home of the Osage indians, this species was
widely planted for living fences before the invention of barbed wire.
Because of its use in making bows, the French name bois d'arc (colloquilly
"bodarc," "bodock") is still heard. Bark yields tannin; boiled wood chips
yield yellow dye. William Maclure was an American geologist who lived from
1763 to 1840."

Osage Orange is Maclura pomifera does that equal Maclura's Fruit Tree??
Don't know how I forgot about the thorns! The tree is climbable but don't
get out in the branches. Yes, little boys and big boys use the fruits for
baseball and war/throwing practice. Don't play it with a person with a
good arm!

OO is also the foodplant for a moth of the Shingidae family (Isogramma
hageni) that has had a range extension due to the planting/farming of OO.

It seems that walnut and hickory which grow in the same area have similar
chemicals released into the soil to inhibit brush/grass growth.

(Mike -- I am familair with quince and it is not the same thing. If I'm
not mistaken WHL was (is?) a researcher for Weyerhaeuser and can probably
comment on it. I think of it as a garden shrub.)
----------
> From: William H. Lawrence <whl at Localaccess.com>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: Birds and wood...
> Date: Wednesday, December 31, 1997 6:22 PM
>
> At 05:23 PM 12/31/97 -0800, you wrote:
> >Interesting! Because I spent a few years in Missouri (Missourah --
> >according to those folks back there!) and a fair number of fence lines
are
> >planted with Osage orange or, as they call it -- hedge apple.
>
> Osage Orange wood is highly figure wood--used for bows -- tool handles as
> reported.
>
> However. The practice of maintaining Osage hedge rows between fields
fell
> into disfavor with intensives farming practices. As the rooting zone of
OO
> extended into the field the zone of poor crop development widened. OO is
> allelopathic its roots release toxic growth substances that kill other
> plants. Neat way to capture all the soil fertility. Certain grasses
also
> have developed this combative technique keep from being shaded out by
taller
> vegetative. Fox squirrels fed on the fruit and help disperse OO in the
> midwest. Small boys would have wars with fruits as well even grown boys.
> It hurts to be hit with a full size green fruit. Black Locust makes good
> fench post now. Bill