Native Plants

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Monday - July 02, 2012

From: San Antonio, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Native range of Osage orange tree
Answered by: Guy Thompson

QUESTION:

I found a "bois d'arc" or Osage Orange Tree in a San Antonio park. Is this very unusual? I thought they were mainly in East Tx as I had never seen one here before.

ANSWER:

San Antonio is at the very lowest end of the native growth range of Maclura pomifera (Osage orange), as you can see from this web site. It seems particularly at home in the Blackland Prairie and Red River basin of Texas and Oklahoma. However, Osage orange has been planted over a much greater area, originally for use as livestock-proof fencerows before the advent of barbed wire. The tree is able to adapt to a variety of soil types and weather conditions.

From the Image Gallery

Osage orange
Maclura pomifera