Need to ID tree in KS pasture. Shade tree has large, green, apple shaped fruit or seed pod rough like orange.

Question

Tree fruit, or pod, is white inside and is sappy. Is this harmful to grazuing animals and what is it?

Answer 1

I *think* the name of these trees are Osage Orange trees. I have two huge ones in my yard and that is what I was told they were when we moved into this house (I live in Illinois)
I don't know about other animals being harmed by eating the fruit ... but I have seen squirrels eating them every year..they seem to love them.
Here is what I found on the web about them for you...I hope this helps :)
Osage orange, maclura, hedge-apple, bois d'arc, or 'tennis ball tree' (Maclura pomifera) is a member of the fig-mulberry family (Moraceae). Like other members of it family it has some rather strange traits. Osage orange was native to Texas and Oklahoma, approximately the home territory of the Osage people. Today it has now been widely planted far outside its natural range. Not everyone considers it to be a picturesque tree. The female tree can look somewhat like an orange tree with its orange-sized fruits. There are less messy species that are just as beautiful.

Osage orange has alternate ovate-lanceolate leaves, on zigzagging twigs. In the southern states its autumn folliage is a clear yellow. Although, specimens in Ontario, that I have seen, are not so colourful. A pair of stout thorns occur near each leaf-base. Osage orange is dioecious, as mulberries are. Male trees have racemes of staminate flowers. Female trees have pistillate flowers in little radial buttonballs. The buttonballs grow into greenish apple-sized compound fruits of 6 to 8 centimetres width. The fruit-ball is structured like a giant mulberry. The heavy fruits fall suddenly within a day, or so, in the autumn. The sap is full of latex, as is common in the figs and mulberries. Both the sap and fruit juice are somewhat distasteful, at least to humans. The bark is rough, reddish and convoluted. The Osage orange can grow to 18 metres tall. It tends to be a squat spreading apple-like tree.

Osage orange's large fruit is one of its most curious features. The seeds are often able to germinate even without pollination. Nevertheless, root suckering is the more common means of natural propagation. The large fruit is not eaten by many animals. The benefit of the strange fruit to the tree's dispersal is an enigma.

In the nineteenth century 'hedge-apple' was planted by farmers as a type of spiny hedgerow barrier. When real barbwire was invented this tradition was discontinued. Still, Osage orange persists semi-wild even in southern Ontario. The heavy compound fruits can dent cars, or hurt heads, when they fall. The 'oranges' take a long time to rot away. Osage orange is more of a curio than an ornamental.

Answer 2

People can eat only the seeds from osage tree fruits I did they taste like melon seeds you wouldn't want to eat the white sap it may taste bitter or might make you trip out like unripe mulberries and the sap from them and from the leaves so yeah. I planted some of these in the woods they are not native to here but I have seen less of them that's why I did I like the smell of osage orange fruits I also like the spikey trees most ornamentals are not native to the US these are half deer resistant unlike ornamental plants.

Answer 3

This is an Osage orange tree, also known as the hedge apple. The wood was highly prized by the early French who called it bo d'arc or wood of the bow - the origin of the word Ozark.

As far as I know livestock will not feed off of the tree although I have seen old cows pick them up and chew on the dried 'apples'. We used to have them in several pastures. The fruits are not edible but dried they can be used to keep bugs and small rodents away. At least that was a common belief and use when I was growing up.

Answer 4

Apples were not native to the area and the Bible doesn't specify the fruit.Since there were a lot of other fruits available it would be impossible to say which was from the tree of knowledge.

Answer 5

This is indeed an Osage Orange or hedge tree. They're very common across the Midwest and are often left in hedgerows and along old roadbeds. The wood is extremely hard and often used for fenceposts. It is not appropriate for firewood, as it burns hotter than most stoves and flus will accommodate. Clock makers still use hedge for some moving parts in handmade clocks, due to its hardness, even though I hear it's quite hard to work. The only danger presented be hedge apple to livestock is the occasional choking, as once in a long while, a cow will decide to taste the apples and get one lodged in the throat. Other wildlife does use the apple...we often see broken and shredded hedge apples left by squirrels.

Answer 6

Osage Orange or Hedge Apple tree. Not harmful to grazing animals and you can actually use the green balls for many things. Some use them for decorations (Put cloves in them and let them dry and you can hang around house or put in drawers for a good scent, My grandma used to decorate with glitter adn hang up at X-Mas time.) Some others use for fleas, ticks, and other nasty little buggies, it's a natural repellent. Look up online and you can find many ideas of what to do with them, if you want.

Answer 7

Osage Orange. Horses love to munch on them

Answer 8

Sounds like everyone has identified tree. They do not keep any bugs,spiders or fleas away,or out of your home. The only thing I ever heard of them being good for, was ,in the early settler's days,was for fence's,as is a very hard wood.

Answer 9

I've seen people use Hedge for fenceposts, and it will actually start to grow again. This is an EXTREMELY resilient tree.

Answer 10

Sounds like a bois d'arc tree. The wood was often used by Native Americans to make bows because it's strong and supple. It also makes great fenceposts. The fruit won't hurt horses and the like, but it is true that you should limit the intake, like with any fruit. I've used them to keep crickets out of the house by putting one on either side of the door. They're also very pretty - I took some to my mother in law, who put them in a white glass bowl with pine cones.

Answer 11

folk wisdom claimed that roaches hate the osage oranges, but scientists have not been able to verify that pesticidal quality. my dogs snif and ignore the fallen fruit. i doubt grazing animals will touch it either. kids will--here in VA they love to throw the overripened fruit, which makes a great splat when it hits the trunk or another obstacle. :)