Bryan Tyler Nelson			OSAGE ORANGE
		OSAGE ORANGE  - (Maclura pomifera) Other names are Hedge, Hedge Apple and Bodark. Osage Orange trees are a common sight on the Great Plains today although they were not a widespread member of the prairie community originally.  Found primarily in a limited area centered on the Red River valley in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, they were planted as living fences - or hedges - along the boundaries of farms, and have spread widely from these restricted, linear beginnings.  The trees are easily recognized by their glossy, lance-shaped leaves and their short, stout thorns. The name of the tree comes from the Osage tribe, which lived near the home range of the tree, and the aroma of the fruit after it is ripe. (Find one of the fruit that has been sitting in the sun on a balmy Indian Summer day and notice the pleasant, orange-peel smell of the skin.) Not all of the trees will have fruit because Osage Orange are either male or female, and only the females will bear fruit.    I get all my Osage Orange from right here in the North Texas. This is a beautiful wood. But like a lot of thing beautiful it has an ugly side. This wood is very hard, it dulls tools and can be very brittle. In larger tree just the wind blowing through it can cause "wind checking" which cause cracks in the inside of the tree. But all thing aside I always find great treasure inside Osage Orange.
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