Osage Orange

Here's an Osage Orange fruit (sometimes described as "monkey brains") from last autumn. These are from smallish trees [1] native to parts of Texas but which have been introduced to other parts of the country. Having thorny branches/leaves, they were used similar to Multiflora Rose, as a "living fence". My guess is that the shrubby manifestations of Osage Orange made for a better fence than the tree manifestations.

The Osage Orange is a large fruit that isn't eaten by a lot of animals today, and the main 2 that eat them around here (squirrels and deer) don't effectively spread their seeds [2]. This gives rise to speculation that seed dispersal used to be done by extinct megafauna. Other than making some logical sense, there's not really good evidence of an ecological connection between Osage Oranges and extinct megafauna.

September 27, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 248785697, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] There's a bit of a fuzzy line between trees and shrubs. Bigger size and having a single trunk generally place a plant in the tree column. Because the Osage Orange sometimes has a single trunk and sometimes has multiple woody stems, it's sometimes considered a shrub.

[2] The fruit contains a sticky latex and some toxins, making it an unpopular food for most animals.

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