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• Maclura pomifera

Maclura pomifera — Osage-orange

Facts

Osage-orange (aka hedge-apple) is neither an orange nor an apple; rather, its fruits are like inflated, wrinkly mulberries, typical of its plant family, the Moraceae. Alas, these showy fruits are not edible by humans. Native to Arkansas and the panhandle states, this tree has been widely planted elsewhere for street trees, windbreaks, and fence-rows (its thorny, densely suckering stems are very useful for this), and has naturalized in many areas. The tough yet flexible wood has been used to fashion bows. Like its relatives, the figs, its leaves have milky sap.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields

Characteristics

• Buds or leaf scars

  Bud scale number

  there are three or more scales on the winter bud, and they overlap like shingles, with one edge covered and the other edge exposed

  Bud scar shape (Fraxinus)

  NA

  Collateral buds

  there are no collateral buds on the sides of the branches

  Superposed buds

  there are no superposed buds on the branch

• Flowers

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused to one another

  Enlarged sterile flowers

  there are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant

  Flower petal color

  NA

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Hairs on ovary (Amelanchier)

  NA

  Hypanthium present

  the flower does not have a hypanthium

  Inflorescence type

  • the inflorescence is a raceme (a long unbranched stem with stalked flowers growing along it)
  • the inflorescence is an ament (catkin; slender, usually pendulous inflorescence with crowded unisexual flowers)

  Number of pistils

  1

  Ovary position

  the ovary is above the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes only one cycle of petals or sepals

  Petal appearance

  NA

  Petal fusion

  NA

  Sepal cilia (Ilex)

  NA

  Stamen number

  4

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  NA

  Fruit tissue origin

  there are no flower parts that form part of the fruit

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is fleshy

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is a multiple (composed of two or more ovaries from separate flowers)

  Nut with spines (Fagaceae)

  NA

  Wings on fruit

  there are no wings on the fruit

• Glands or sap

  Sap color

  the sap is thick and colored

  Stalked glands on fruit (Rosa)

  NA

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant is a tree

• Leaves

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is rounded

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes

  Leaf blade edges (Acer)

  NA

  Leaf blade hairs

  the hairs on the leaf blade are different from the choices given

  Leaf blade length

  40–120 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is lanceolate (lance-shaped; widest below the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

  Leaf blade translucent dots

  there are no translucent dots on the leaf blade

  Leaf blade width

  20–60 mm

  Leaf duration

  the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)

  Leaf lobe tips (Quercus)

  NA

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk nectaries

  there are no nectaries on the leaf stalk

  Leaf teeth

  the edge of the leaf blade is entire (has no teeth or lobes)

  Leaf teeth hairs (Carya)

  NA

  Leaf type

  the leaf blade is simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaves per node

  there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Specific leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts
  • Rhode Island

  Specific habitat

  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Aerial roots

  the plant has no aerial roots

  Bark texture

  the bark of an adult plant is ridged or plated

  Branch brittleness (willows only)

  NA

  Branch cross-section

  the branch is circular in cross-section, or it has five or more sides, so that there are no sharp angles

  First-year cane (Rubus)

  NA

  Twig papillae (Vaccinium species only)

  NA

  Twig winter color

  • brown
  • gray

  Wings on branch

  the branch does not have wings on it

  armature on plant

  the plant has spines, prickles, or thorns

Wetland status

Occurs only in non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: UPL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae