Osage orange

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Osage orange leaves

Osage orange

Osage orange fruit

Osage orange pistillate flowers

Osage orange

Osage orange bark

Osage orange staminate flowers

Osage orange trunk

Osage orange bark

Osage orange staminate flowers

Osage orange

Osage orange bud and spine

Osage orange leaves

Osage orange bud and spine

Osage orange fruit

Morphology

Trunk

Short; bark dark orange-brown, shallow furrows, frequently peeling in long, flat strips; branches arching upward; crown low, rounded.

Twigs

Frequently zigzag, greenish-yellow or orange-brown, armed with stout, straight spines, to 1 inch long; buds often paired, larger one reddish-brown; leaf scars half-round or broadly triangular; bundle scars several, arranged in oval.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous, egg-shaped to elliptic-lanceolate, 1.6 to 4.8 inches long, .8 to 2.4 inches wide, thick, firm; upper surface dark green, shiny; lower surface paler; margins entire; tip long-pointed; base rounded or bluntly tapered; stalk slender, .8 to 2 inches long, grooved on top, usually somewhat pubescent.

Flowers

Male and female flowers occur on separate trees; staminate flowers in dense spherical or oblong clusters .5 to .8 inch in diameter; flowers small, stalked, yellowish-green, hairy; stamens 4; anthers yellow; pistillate flowers in dense spherical heads .6 to 1 inch in diameter, sessile or short-stalked in leaf axils; calyx 4-lobed; styles long, conspicuous, thread-like, yellowish.

Fruit

Autumn; aggregate of many small fruits in orange-like ball, 2 to 6 inches in diameter, pale green, lumpy, wrinkled; fruits small, fleshy, grown together; juice milky, sticky; seeds oval, .3 to .5 inch long, pale brown.

Ecology

Habitat

Hedge rows, shelter belts, woods, ravines, fence rows, waste places; rich soils.

Distribution

Throughout Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Osage orange provides cover for song birds, game birds, and wildlife. Rabbits and squirrels eat the seeds. The Kiowa used the bark of the roots to make a yellow dye and the Comanche, Omaha, Pawnee, and Ponca fashioned bows from the branches. The roots were boiled and the liquid used as a wash for sore eyes.

Additional Notes