Question
Are these trees native to the US, if so what is there range. Thank you.  

Answer
Yes Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera) are native to the US. The natural range of Osage-orange is in the Red River drainage of Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas; and in the Blackland Prairies, Post Oak Savannas, and Chisos Mountains of Texas . According to some authors the original range included most of eastern Oklahoma , portions of Missouri , and perhaps northwestern Louisiana .

Osage-orange has been planted as a hedge in all the 48 conterminous States and in southeastern Canada. The commercial range includes most of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, south of the Platte River and the Great Lakes, excluding the Appalachian Mountains.

Within the natural range of Osage-orange, average annual temperature ranges from about 18?to 21?C (65?to 70?F), July temperature averages 27?C (80?F) and January temperature ranges from 6?to 7?C (43?to 45?F) with an extreme of -23?C (-10?F). The frost-free period averages 240 days. Average annual precipitation ranges from 1020 to 1140 min (40 to 45 in), and April to September rainfall from 430 to 630 min (17 to 25 in).

Osage-orange is hardy as far north as Massachusetts but succumbs to winter-kill in northeastern Colorado and the northern parts of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.


Known also as hedge, hedge-apple, bodark, bois-d'arc, bowwood, and naranjo chino, it made agricultural settlement of the prairies possible (though not profitable), led directly to the invention of barbed wire, and then provided most of the posts for the wire that fenced the West. The heartwood, bark, and roots contain many extractives of actual and potential value in food processing, pesticide manufacturing, and dyemaking. Osage-orange is used in landscape design, being picturesque rather than beautiful, and possessing strong form, texture, and character.