How to grow Osage Orange

It prefers a deep and fertile soil but it has great powers of adaptation and is hardy over most of the contiguous United States.

The fruit is not poisonous and humans can generally eat it without ill effects, but it is considered inedible due to the texture and taste, which has been described as chemical-like. Exposure to frost improves the flavor, which becomes cucumber-like

These estimates for how long Osage Orange takes to sprout, grow and harvest are from real observations from real gardeners, right around the world.

The trees are also known as “bodark” or “bodarc” trees, most likely originating from a corruption of “bois d’arc.”

The wood was highly prized by Native American tribes for bow-making, and were known to travel hundreds of miles to acquire it. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good Osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket. 1

bodarc, bois d'arc, Hedge Apple, mock orange

Misspellings: bodark

1 Keeler, Harriet L. (1900). Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. New York: Charles Scriber’s Sons. pp. 186–189.

² missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a879