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The species is dioeceous, with male and female flowers on different plants. It is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, typically growing to 8-15 m tall. The fruit, a syncarp of achenes, is roughly spherical, but bumpy, and 7-15 cm in diameter. The color is a bright yellow-green, with a faint orange odor.

The plant is native to the central United States, in Arkansas and TexasTexas joined the United States of America as its 28th member state in 1845. It has the postal abbreviation TX . The state name derives from a word in a Caddoan language of the Hasinai, tejas meaning friends or allies Spanish explorers mistakenly applied t, possibly OklahomaOklahoma ( In Detail) (Full size) State nickname: Sooner State Other U. States Capital Oklahoma City Largest City Oklahoma City Governor Brad Henry Area Total Land Water % water Ranked 20th 181,196 km² 178,023 km² 3,173 km² 1. 8% Population Total ( 2000), but was not common anywhere. The OsageThe Osage are American Indian People of the central Midwest. The Osage call themselves Wa-zha-zhe Children of the Middle Water. The name Osage comes from the European settlers' attempt to approximate the pronunciation of the native name. Today, the Osage Native AmericanNative Americans (also Indians Aboriginal Peoples American Indians First Nations Alaskan Natives or Indigenous Peoples of America are the indigenous inhabitants of Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. This term compri people "esteem the wood of this tree for the making of their bows, that they travel many hundred miles in quest of it" Meriwether LewisCharles Willson Peale Meriwether Lewis ( August 18, 1774 October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator; he is best known for his role as the leader of the Corps of Discovery. Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia (ne was told in 1804. It was a curiosity when Lewis sent some slips and cuttings to President JeffersonThomas Jefferson Other images: (, , ) Order 3rd President Term of Office Monday, March 4, 1801 Thursday, March 3, 1809 Followed John Adams Succeeded by James Madison Date of Birth April 13, 1743 Place of Birth Shadwell, Virginia Date of Death Tuesday, Jul in March 1804. The samples, donated by "Mr. Peter Choteau, who resided the greater portion of his time for many years with the OsageThe Osage are American Indian People of the central Midwest. The Osage call themselves Wa-zha-zhe Children of the Middle Water. The name Osage comes from the European settlers' attempt to approximate the pronunciation of the native name. Today, the Osage nation" according to Lewis' letter, didn't take, but later the thorny Osage-orange was widely naturalized throughout the U.S. The sharp-thorned trees were planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wireBarbed wire is a type of wire constructed with sharp edges or points. It is used to construct inexpensive fences. A person or animal trying to pass through a barbed-wire fence will suffer discomfort and possibly injury. Barbed-wire fencing requires only f, and the wood was also used to make fence posts that preserved well in the ground.

The trees picked up the name bois d'arc, or "bow-wood", because early French settlers observed the wood being used for bow-making by Native Americans. The heavy and closely grained yellow-orange wood is also prized for tool handles.

The heavy, fleshy fruit appears not to be eaten by any animal presently native to North America. This is unusual, as most large fleshy fruits serve the function of seed dispersal, accomplished by their consumption by large animals. One recent hypothesis is that the Osage-orange fruit was eaten by a giant sloth that became extinct shortly after the first human settlement of North America. As horses and other livestock will eat the fruit, and the horse evolved in North America, horses have also been suggested as the plant's original dispersal mechanism. Humans do not eat this fruit, because of its bitter taste. Where not eaten by horses, they are mostly left to rot where they fall.