SCIENTIFIC NAME: Maclura pomifera

COMMON NAME: osage orange

LEAVES: Alternate, ovate, and with entire margins. Leaves may be clustered on spurs. Excised petioles secrete sticky, milky sap.

FLOWERS: Dioecious and not showy in the spring.

FRUIT: Large fruit the size of a softball and looks like a brain. Very sticky when ruptured.

BARK: May get spines on young twigs.

OTHER: Dioecious: male and female trees. Female trees get large fruit that looks like a brain. Indians used the wood to make bows. Good for high pH soils. Grows 30' to 50' tall. Roots and trunk turn a yellow to orange color when older (used to make dyes). Usually has a weeping shape. Flowers in the early spring but flowers are hard to see. A member of the Moraceae family. Very heavy wooded (40#/cu. ft.)