# Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera)

> Osage-orange, Maclura pomifera: a medium tree of 20 to 70 feet for zones 4 to 9, when it flowers and fruits, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/osage-orange/

![A leafless Osage-orange tree in a field, its branches hung with many round yellow-green fruits](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/osage-orange-1000.jpg?v=6e75775c "An Osage-orange in Delaware on November 14, 2013, its leaves gone and its fruit still hanging. The fruit ripens in September and October.")
*Photo: PookieFugglestein, [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMaclura_pomifera_tree_in_fall.jpg))*

Medium tree, 20 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 9; full sun or part shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow Osage-orange, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Osage-orange |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Hedge apple, horse apple, bois d'arc, bodark, bowwood, monkey brains |
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 20 to 70 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 60 |
| Zones | 4 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Fall color, wildlife value, hedge or screen, street tree, erosion control |
| Flowers | April to June |
| Fruit | Aggregate fruit, September to October |
| First crop | About 10 years (good crops nearly every year) |
| Pollination | Osage-orange has male and female trees. Silvics of North America says a female with no male nearby may still bear fruit that holds no seed, while the Morton Arboretum and the Missouri Botanical Garden say she bears fruit only with a male nearby. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on Osage-orange marks it as one that transplants well. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Floodplain forests, sandy barrens, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 3 states |

Osage-orange is native in 3 states: [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK) and [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=osage-orange&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=osage-orange): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=osage-orange:5): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=osage-orange): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [American Persimmon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-persimmon/index.html.md) (*Diospyros virginiana*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Downy Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-hawthorn/index.html.md) (*Crataegus mollis*): small tree, 20 to 40 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares floodplain forests, sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus rubra*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Sassafras](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sassafras/index.html.md) (*Sassafras albidum*): medium tree, 30 to 60 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Western Soapberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/western-soapberry/index.html.md) (*Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii*): medium tree, 20 to 50 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Winged Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/winged-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus alata*): medium tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 6 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Every companion of Osage-orange in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=osage-orange)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual and the USDA PLANTS Database.