Another native member of the Mulberry family is the Osage Orange.

It's compound fruits are much larger, though based on the same principle at the true Mulberries. They're also green, and staying that way, even when ripe. And ripe is a relative idea. When the globes drop at the end of Summer, they are not exactly tasty, an acrid, milky juice being their most agreeable feature.

They are virtually unutilized by wildlife, and, in fact, urban folk-wisdom recommends them as a Cockroach repellent.











It's not as a fruit tree that the Osage Orange excels. It's the tree that tamed the prairies!

It's native range is thought to be restricted to a small area, but it's been spread far and wide as a hedge tree. It grows fast and tends to be thorny, making it a good windbreak and cow fence, as well as a line marker. Every thirteen years, you cut it, use the wood for fence posts, and let it grow back from the copious stump sprouts.

The idea for barbed wire was inspired by these trees, and they never saw a dime from it!

They did get spread all over the continent, and even to Europe, so it's probably a fair deal all around.

But nobody wants the fruits.







Which leaves the question of whether the tree was actually named, not for the fruits, (which do closely resemble some travesty of an orange), but rather for the bright orange color of the roots and inner bark, which is especially strong when the trees are wet.

Which means you're out in the rain...

out on a limb...



I suppose it's the fruit, after all.

Just another aimless post,

ending up

underground.

Like so much else.