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With the help of Goggle I did a little research on the tree and found some interesting facts in a few Internet sites dedicated to the tree. A place in Texas has a "Bois d'Arc Bash" every year dedicated to the tree. So what’s so special about this celebrated tree? |
| Well, back before
barbed wire was invented or at least widely available, pens for cattle and hogs
were a problem to build and maintain. The Osage Orange tree makes an ideal hedge
because it grows thick and has a lot of thorns so the early pioneers used them
for hedge rows. That makes for cheap fences to pen up livestock. It makes a good
security fence too!
Long before that the indians, who weren’t into fences, found that the osage orange tree limbs make an excellent hunting bow. The French learned of the tree from the Osage Indians along the Ouachita River in Arkansas and called it the Bois d’Arc. The tree looks like an orange tree (sorta) and the fruit is about the size of an orange as shown in the photo, thus the name as we know it. |
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