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What is this green thing on this tree? (osage orange)

Mac Kugler

Posts: 32

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posted 7 years ago

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Hello all,

I hope you might be able to help me identify what I'm seeing in this photo (attached, and at this link https://imgur.com/a/oqFFERH. I am not sure of the identity of the tree. Is this green sci-fi-looking-thing the fruit? I plucked up the courage to poke it with a stick, but it didn't move (hard to the touch), so it seems to be part of the tree.

For reference, I am in Maryland, northwest of Washington DC, in Frederick.

This is my first post so I apologize if I have put this question in the wrong place in the forum.

IMG_20180810_170520.jpg

J Anders

Posts: 171

posted 7 years ago

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osage orange

Mac Kugler

Posts: 32

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posted 7 years ago

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J Anders wrote:osage orange

Thank you! I'm laughing at my ignorance. I've lived in cities all my life, this is my first year in a more suburban environment. I really appreciate your help.

Joylynn Hardesty

master pollinator

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Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee

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posted 7 years ago

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I do believe you have found an Osage Orange tree AKA Horse Apple. Some information about them: http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/osageorange

The picture of the "orange" at the above site is closer to "ripe" than your picture. Only the seeds are edible for people. Don't get excited though, they are VERY labor intensive to extract. The squirels like them though.

J Anders

Posts: 171

posted 7 years ago

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Mac Kugler wrote:

J Anders wrote:osage orange

Thank you! I'm laughing at my ignorance. I've lived in cities all my life, this is my first year in a more suburban environment. I really appreciate your help.

Well I've seen them for sale in the grocery stores known as hedge apples. So I had to google that and it said "osage orange, also known as hedge apple".... then confirm from the picture that it was the same style of leaves.

You best come out to the real country and we'll have a naming contest. With your phone. :)

Sarah Koster

pollinator

Posts: 225

Location: SW Ohio

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posted 7 years ago

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We call those "monkey brains" hereabouts. They're supposed to smell bad to spiders or something.

You can see with only one eye open, but you'll probably run into things and stub your toe. The big picture matters.

Jim Fry

Posts: 610

Location: Stone Garden Farm Richfield Twp., Ohio

posted 7 years ago

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Pick a few and place them in your house, particularly your basement. Folk lore has it that them are good for ridding your home of spiders. The wood is really pretty for wood working projects. It also is quite weather/rain resistant. At times we have cut V branches and stuck them in the ground, then laid a branch a crossed them. It makes a good "drum" for fun and Ceremony.

Creating sustainable life, beauty & food (with lots of kids and fun)

Dan Boone

gardener

Posts: 3545

Location: Central Oklahoma (zone 7a)

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posted 7 years ago

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Not to pull a Crocodile Dundee but...

How sure are we that that wee little horse apple is healthy and happy?

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Bryant RedHawk

gardener

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Location: Arkansas - Zone 7B/8A stoney, sandy loam soil pH 6.5

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posted 7 years ago

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Osage Orange is the Best Bow wood ever. I have bows of Osage Orange and Lemon Wood and The Osage bow is much faster at the same weight pull as the Lemon wood bow.
It also make excellent flutes, nice tonal qualities and looks.
I've been toying with the idea of making a clarinet out of Osage one day, I think it would complement my ebony one I bought in 1960.

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Dan Boone

gardener

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Location: Central Oklahoma (zone 7a)

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posted 7 years ago

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Here’s a photo I took of two osage orange trees just this morning, for another thread about fence posts. The young tree at right is one of the few on this property that’s tall and straight. We have a surplus of the huge majestic gnarled old beauties like the one center-left, but they don’t offer much clear straight wood.

There were a number of Creek and Seminole bowyers and craftsmen who had a standing invitation to cut craft wood on this acreage when my wife’s mother was with us, which may explain my impression of these trees as overwhelmingly twisty and bent. Nonetheless I manage this species as best I can with an eye toward preserving potential timber trees for crafters. The big trees make excellent mast trees, the females anyway; fruit drops feed deer quite heavily in late winter.

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Dennis Bangham

pollinator

Posts: 935

Location: Huntsville Alabama (North Alabama), Zone 7B

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posted 7 years ago

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Are there any low maintenance living fences? I just want to block the view to my backyard orchard and shop.
I have an Elaeagnus hedge but it requires trimming twice a year. I was hoping that it would stop growing and only require minor trimming after 10 years.

Other people may reject you but if you lie in the forest floor for long enough the moss and fungi will accept you as one of their own!

S Bengi

pollinator

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Location: Massachusetts, Zone:6/7 AHS:4 GDD:3000 Rainfall:48in even Soil:SandyLoam pH6 Flat

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posted 7 years ago

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Goumi requires no cutting

Iterations are fine, we don't have to be perfect
My 2nd Location:Florida HardinessZone:10 AHS:10 GDD:8500 Rainfall:2in/mth winter, 8in/mth summer, Soil:Sand pH8 Flat

Dennis Bangham

pollinator

Posts: 935

Location: Huntsville Alabama (North Alabama), Zone 7B

155

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posted 7 years ago

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Thanks,
I have three Goumi going now. Two different varieties. Planted them 3 months ago and they are doing well. Maybe I can learn to propagate the cuttings.

Other people may reject you but if you lie in the forest floor for long enough the moss and fungi will accept you as one of their own!

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