Natural Land Institute’s Legacy Tree Program announces the 2025 September Tree of the Month is an Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera), found along the edge of a farm field in Ogle County. The Osage Orange is notable for its funny looking, large, bright yellow/green fruit, not edible by humans.
This tree is extremely large. Natural Land Institute (NLI) Executive Director s Alan Branhagen said, “It looks very healthy and happy, with a lot of new growth visible on the branches.” The height of the tree is 48 ft., with an average crown spread of 48.5 ft., and circumference of 134.4” (11.2 ft.) It was not native to Illinois at the time of Euro-settlement, so was likely planted during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.
Michael Rummel, who nominated the Osage Orange, says he “truly enjoys learning about trees” and is looking forward to learning more about this particular one. He has admired the Osage Orange for a long time, being aware of it, because his father farmed the fields surrounding it for many years. His son, Logan, age 6, likes to climb the tree. Rummel said when his daughters were younger they used to collect the fruit in a red wagon and pile them by a fire pit. Now there is an Osage Orange growing in their yard.
“Not what you want growing in your yard, but I keep it, because it’s a good memory,” said Michael. There are others growing in the area, but none as big as the one he nominated.
Osage Orange, also known as “Hedge,” is a tree humans saved from extinction, while also likely being the cause of its near disappearance. Before the last Ice Age, archaeological evidence shows the tree was widespread across North America (into southern Canada) with several sister species.
The tree thrived in the prehistoric landscape of North America. Its seeds were likely dispersed by mastodons and other extinct large animals known as the megafauna. The tree’s seeds are imbedded in a huge, lime green, orange-like fruit, that the large elephant relative animals ate. In so doing, they passed along the seeds! No extant, modern animal does that today. Incidentally, the first peoples in North America likely caused the extinction of most of the continent’s megafauna.
More recent native peoples found the tree relic in isolated stands in what is now north Texas and adjacent Oklahoma and Arkansas. The tree has amazing wood–orangish in color while extremely flexible, strong, and rot resistant. It was soon discovered to make the best bows for hunting game. French traders named it Bois d’Arc “wood of the bow,” which is another common name for the tree. Osage tribes cultivated the tree in villages beyond its post-Ice Age relic range. The tree was “discovered” by Western science on the epic Lewis and Clark journey up the Missouri River, that cataloged the flora and fauna of the new Louisiana Purchase.
Euro-Settlers soon discovered that the wood was very rot-resistant. The tree grew fast, was extremely heat and drought tolerant, and had thorns to boot! [It was] he perfect living, impenetrable hedge, that could be quickly grown to contain livestock on the treeless prairie. Millions of trees were grown and planted across the lower Great Plains and Midwest (north to southern Nebraska, southern Iowa, and southernmost Wisconsin) where the tree was hardy. The invention of barbed wire quickly made the plantings obsolete, but the trees were also widely planted as windbreaks, after the dust bowl. Many Osage Oranges persist from these original plantings to this day.
Osage Orange is not an orange nor in the citrus family; it is in the mulberry family. This tree is very long-lived; trees grown from the Lewis and Clark expedition are still extant. Trees are either male or female. Fruits of the female trees have been used for generations as a deterrence of spiders, as well as for fall décor.
The fruit is usually the size of a softball but can be larger. There exists a selection called “Cannonball.” These falling fruits in the fall can cause damage to vehicle windshields. Male trees are valued for shade. [They are] nearly indestructible being so heat and drought tolerant. The wood burns extremely hot, so be careful when using it in a wood stove!
Branhagen said, “The tree is the epitome of climate resilience, but is it native? It’s as North American as any other native tree. It just had a bumpy ride into the modern era, but I’m glad it survived and likely will, well into the future.”