Bois d' Arc

Bois d'Arc, Maclura pomifera

The tree Maclura pomifera has a number of common names including Bois d'Arc (wood of the bow), bodark, osage-orange, hedge-apple, and horse apple tree. Historically, bois d'arc was only found in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas in the Blackland Prairies, Post Oak Savannas, and Chiso Mountains of Texas. The range expanded to most states and Canada with help from Prairie Farmer. Bois d'arc was proposed as perfect for hedges as it was "horse high, bull strong, and pig tight" and, until the invention of barbed wire, it made fencing entire farms possible. While not as often used for hedging now, the wood is still used for fence posts as it is a very hard wood and unusually resistant to decay. The resistance to decay and other aspects has also recently made bois d'arc and the various compounds within it of interest for medicine.

Characteristic orange bark of osage-orange.

Bois d'arc has many characteristic features including the orange bark, thorns, drooping branches, and the large, green fruits. A number of birds shelter within the branches, and squirrels will sometimes gnaw on the fruit. Unlike many trees, bois d'arc is dioecious with male and female flowers on different plants where the fruit grows on the female tree. The fruit, most often found rotting underneath the tree, is thought to be an anachronism: important in the past, but not in the present. Before the extinction of giant sloths over 13,000 years ago, the horse-apple is thought to have been a preferred food. Few others creatures could reach high past the thorns to consume such a large fruit, and none readily consume the fruit today. Giant sloths no longer exist and propagation mainly relies on humans as bois d'arc is still stuck in the past.