Google hedge apples and cancer. Michael L. Ferro "A Cultural and Entomological Review of the Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Hedge apples, also known as osage oranges, are generally considered inedible. [7][8][9], The earliest account of the tree in the English language was given by William Dunbar, a Scottish explorer, in his narrative of a journey made in 1804 from St. Catherine's Landing on the Mississippi River to the Ouachita River. Many find the fruit nuisance. | ThriftyFun. [6], Maclura pomifera has been known by a variety of common names in addition to Osage orange, including hedge apple, horse apple, the French bois d'arc and English transliterations: bodark and bodock, also translated as "bow-wood"; monkey ball, monkey brains, yellow-wood and mock orange. I won't be able to thank you fully for the articles on your web-site. [37][38][39], Osage orange wood is more rot-resistant than most, making good fence posts. [24], The fruit is not poisonous to humans or livestock, but is not preferred by them,[25] because it is mostly inedible due to a large size (about the diameter of a softball) and hard, dry texture. Its dense grain structure makes for good tonal properties. It is remarkably free from insect predators and fungal diseases. Branchlets are at first bright green and pubescent; during their first winter they become light brown tinged with orange, and later they become a paler orange brown. After a multi-day work, Jared produced just a single bowl of hedge apple seeds. Hedge apples are another name osage orange. Used as a decoration in the 18th and 19th centuries, the hedge apple, Osage-orange, or the horse apple is one of the most unusual yet common fruits in the United States. "Heating With Wood: Species Characteristics and Volumes", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maclura_pomifera&oldid=1000055265, Trees of the Great Lakes region (North America), Plants used in traditional Native American medicine, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 13 January 2021, at 09:36. When the Osage-oranges fall in your backyard, pick them up and dispose of them. [3] The roots are thick, fleshy, and covered with bright orange bark. Some people say they resemble brains. If you are wondering if you can eat hedge apples, Jared Rydelek, a YouTuber who has carved a niche by tracking down rare fruits and trying them out, tried eating the Osage-orange. https://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/nebline/hedgeapple.htm Squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, deer, and many other animals love to eat the seeds of the Osage Orange. [32] The sharp-thorned trees were also planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wire and afterward became an important source of fence posts. However, the naturally occurring concentrations of these compounds in the fruit are too low to make the fruit an effective insect repellent. Studies have shown that hedge apples are innocuous to horses when ingested. People claim that placing the hedge apples around the foundation or inside the basement of the house will repel crickets, spiders, boxelder bugs, and other insects. Squirrels tear apart the hedge apple for its seeds (not the seeds), making it an anomaly among fruits. [10], American settlers used the Osage orange (i.e. I would assume you let the fruit ripen completely, then remove the seeds from the center and plant them. After the completion of the study, the university responded that it doesn’t recommend the use of the hedge apples for pest control. 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