OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Rosales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Maclura pomifera   FAMILY Moraceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Maclura pomifera   FAMILY Moraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Maclura pomifera

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 3 (1997)

Maclura pomifera

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 057-03-001:

Maclura pomifera   FAMILY Moraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Toxylon pomiferum

 

COMMON NAME:
Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905)    mtna_i_364

        

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_mapo_003_lhd

        

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_mapo_004_lvd

        

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_topo2_001_lvd

        

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

JK Marlow    s050316_en

March    Rutherford County    NC

Leaf scars alternate; terminal bud lacking; spines or spur shoots present.

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_m_pomifera_z

May        

The wrinkled, yellowish-green, grapefruit-sized fruits are unmistakable, per Weakley's Flora (2012).

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_m_pomifera_9_18_05_2

September        

The wood is extremely heavy, fine-grained, famous for making bows, per Weakley's Flora (2012).

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_m_pomifera_9_18_05_7

September        

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmmpomifera_aiken

Month Unknown    Aiken County    SC

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmmpomifera_aiken1

Month Unknown    Aiken County    SC

Fruit large & spherical, a multiple of drupelets encased by a fleshy calyx, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).

image of Maclura pomifera, Osage-orange, Hedge-apple, Bow-wood

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmmpomifera_aiken74

Month Unknown    Aiken County    SC

Leaf tips acuminate, bases rounded, margins entire, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Maclura pomifera   FAMILY Moraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Maclura pomifera   FAMILY Moraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Maclura pomifera

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 3
Maclura pomifera

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 057-03-001:
Maclura pomifera   FAMILY Moraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Toxylon pomiferum

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

893

Tree
Perennial
Dioecious

Habitat: Dry-mesic to mesic upland forests and woodlands, bottomland and riparian forests, stream banks, fencerows, old fields, pastures, prairies, roadsides, naturalized beyond its native range from extensive planting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, per Weakley's Flora

Native: west of the Carolinas & Georgia

Common in Mountains of GA & SC, common in Piedmont of GA & SC (uncommon to rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.


Invasive?

This plant may be causing problems in natural areas outside its native range, according to authorities such as:

 

DOES THE PLANT HAVE "MILKY SAP"?
Has translucent to milky-white latex (milky sap not always evident in winter)

IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Armed with nodal spines

LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Mostly alternate
Margins entire

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Yellowish-green
Radially symmetrical
4 calyx lobes or sepals
4 stamens in staminate flowers
Superior ovary
Unisexual

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Multiple of nutlets

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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