Q: We picked this strange fruit from the Confederate cemetery in Jonesboro and wondered if you could identify it for us and also tell us if it is edible.

A: When I worked for the Extension service in Clayton county, I could count on getting calls about this fruit/tree every fall. It is osage orange, also known as hedge apple, bodark and monkey brains tree. There is another one behind the Swallow at the Hollow restaurant in Roswell. (Don’t park under the tree in fall!)

The fruit is not poisonous but I wouldn’t recommend you eat them. Horses graze on them occasionally and squirrels rip the centers out but I don’t think the pulp has much taste.

The trees aren’t on every street corner but they aren’t rare in Georgia either.

see also

Osage Orange – History

Osage Orange

Osage orange fruit

Osage orange fruit

Osage orange tree