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"This led French explorers to dub the tree the bois d’arc, meaning “wood of the bow” (and, of course, English speakers dubbed it the Osage orange after the trib
by cafard 4y ago
"This led French explorers to dub the tree the bois d’arc, meaning “wood of the bow” (and, of course, English speakers dubbed it the Osage orange after the tribe that famously put it to use)."
And, in southwestern American speech, "bowdock", I believe.
There are a couple of osage orange trees near where I live in Washington, DC.
- legerdemain 4y agoI remember spotting one near the FDA building in College Park, Maryland. I wonder if the grapefruit-sized fruit could be used for children's crafts and decorating, or if it just starts rotting.
- eppp 4y agoYou do not really want to mess with them. They have a sticky fluid in them and it can irritate the skin if you cut into them.
- doodlebugging 4y agoMy post about this sap is long but may be worth the read. Your decision.
- jcmeyrignac 4y agoI'm in France in a city called Vichy, and there are several "Orangers des Osages". With my wife, we were surprised by the quantity of fruits lying under these trees, and wondered if there was any kind of usage for them. Apparently not.
- yourapostasy 4y ago> ...and wondered if there was any kind of usage for them. When cut open, they release a natural insect repellent. Works against many species of ants and cockroaches among other insects. The wood is excellent material for fences. Very tough and durable.
- Tagbert 4y agoIn Kansas we called the trees “hedge trees” as they were grown as hedges around fields. They grew thickly and with the spines, cattle were disinterested in passing through the hedge. The branches were used a durable fence posts. The fruit were called “hedge apples”.
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoAnd to most of us central Kansans, hedge wood is the only wood worth burning in the woodstove.
- Tagbert 4y agoBut it does like to pop :)
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoPart of the fun.
- skipkey 4y agoIn rural Texas, we pronounced it “bow-dark” and called them horse apples, which the article mentions. It was very common to hang swings from them.
- mytailorisrich 4y ago"Bow-wood" is a more appropriate translation of "bois d'arc", and is used by Wikipedia. Apparently, "bowdock" and other similar names are a corruption of "bois d'arc".
- dylan604 4y agoyou say corruption, we say accent