Four wooden sticks connected with string, arranged horizontally against a black background.

OSAGE ORANGE

Native: Southern United States

Scientific name: Maclura pomifera

Family: moraceae

The Osage Orange tree's purpose evolved as history developed.

Early Osage tribes utilized the wood for bow-making and valued trading. Later, when early colonial settlers discovered the flexibility of the wood, they employed it for wagon wheels and furniture making.

George Washington's River Farm: Osage Orange, Alexandria, Virginia, estimated at least:

222 years old:

It is believed to have been a gift to George Washington from Thomas Jefferson. The sapling reportedly came from the Lewis and Clark expedition, which returned in 1803.

HISTORIC LANDMARK SPECIMEN TREE: See this Prized Tree in our Collection, Senoia, Georgia, whose age is estimated to be:

300 years old

The Oldest Osage Orange Tree known is the Patrick Henry's Osage Orange Tree, Located at Red Hill Plantation in Charlotte County, Virginia. estimated to be at least:

350 years old

Two green breadfruit fruits hanging among large green leaves on a tree.

Fruit of the Osage orange tree, grows only on female trees of the species.

The Osage Orange, also known as Hedge Apples, are used for feeding livestock and NOT for human consumption.

Close-up of a thorny plant stem with sharp thorns and green leaves.

The thorny compact branches from the tree were used as security hedges throughout history prior to the introduction of barbed wire.

Close-up of a branch with green leaves and yellowish-green flowering clusters, likely a tree or shrub.

Flowers that pollinate in the Spring

Large leafless tree in front of a white house with steps and black shutters. The sky is cloudy.
A large, leafless tree with gnarled branches stands in a yard surrounded by a gravel pathway, with a white building on the right and a white staircase on the left.
A large, old, leafless tree with thick, twisted branches standing in an open grassy area.

The oldest Osage Orange tree in the U.S., about 350 years old located at Patrick Henry's Red Hill home in Charlotte County, Virginia. This tree was at least 125 years old when Patrick and his children played beneath it.