Osage Orange

Scientific Name(s): Maclura pomifera
Abundance: common
What: seeds
How: roasted
Where: fields, forest borders
When: fall
Nutritional Value: calories
Dangers: juice is extremely sticky

Medicinal Use: fruit's flesh is consumed as a traditional cure for cancer, but research is sketchy

Osage orange fruit.

Osage orange fruit cut in half.


Osage orange leaves and fruit.


Close-up of leaves.


Closer close-up of leaf.


Trunk of Osage orange (fall).




Close-up of branch thorns.




Inner wood of Osage orange.




Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.


North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.


The more useful a plant is the more common names it ends up having, which is why Osage orange is also known as mock orange, horse apple, hedge apple, hedge ball, monkey ball, monkey brains, bois d'arc, and bodark! However, its usefulness comes from the extremely tough wood rather than the edibility of the fruit. I can't imagine even trying to eat the flesh of these "monkey apples" as the sap is super sticky and the fruit itself is very hard to slice. Only the roasted seeds were recorded as eaten, and even then I wonder if it was during periods of famine. They don't taste bad, it's just a lot of work to collect harvest the seeds from the fruit. Luckily, each fruit is loaded with many seeds. 

The wood is the primary material harvested from bois d'ark trees. This dense, springy, tough wood made the best bows for bow and arrows. Later uses included fence posts and piers under house as this wood is nearly impervious to rotting. It's beautiful, orange heartwood is esteemed by woodcarvers, but it quickly dulls any knife, axe, or saw used to cut it. The dried wood burns exceptionally hot.

Historical note 1. - Prehistoric mastodons were the primary eater of these fruit, whole off the tree then chewed up with their massive molars. The Osage orange seeds were then spread in the mastodon's feces. 

Historical note 2. - Ripe fruits were cut in half and tossed under settler's houses and into barns and sheds under the belief that they'll drive out black widow spiders and other insects. However, scientific studies don't support this action, the fruit have no insect-repelling compounds.

Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.