We used to call the balls "land mines." You don't want to step on them.
Jeanette McKenna
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barbara
Hickman
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 1:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vegetation and Historic Sites
Although this topic may have been talked to death by now, please allow me to
toss another spadeful on the subject.
In Texas, this shrub is traditionally known as Bois d'Arc (pronounced bo
dark), also called 'horse apple' in some places. I know it's called Osage
Orange in other states. Bois d'Arc is in the Maclura family, although it
doesn't look like a mulberry tree. My grandfather planted hedges of Bois
d'Arc in the late nineteenth century-early twentieth century to keep the
livestock out of the yard and driveway. It's not even good browsing food for
the cattle.
The bright green, not orange, fruit can be as large as softballs, and evil
children throw them at each other. Bois d'Arc balls hurt (nasty flashback).
The spines can be an 1.5 inches long with a very sharp tip; the hedges
aren't something one would want to crawl through. I've managed to get stuck
by spines of both screwbean mesquite (tornillo) and bois d'Arc,; bois d'Arc
is worse.
I don't know if Native Americans really made bows out of the wood, but the
wood isn't easily cut or pruned.
In central and northeast Texas, one can count on seeing certain garden
plants where historic farmhouses once stood. Iris is probably the most
common, along with white honeysuckle (Lonicera sp.), although honeysuckle
naturalized a long time ago. Old garden roses ('antique' roses) sometimes
live on in abandoned gardens and old cemeteries; hobbyist rosarians often
collect clippings of the roses to root. Periwinkle (Vinca sp.) was so common
in old cemeteries that some people called it 'graveyard' ivy. A particularly
southern lily, known as 'milk and wine,' (Crinum sp.) is found occasionally,
but the bulbs are expensive, and people dig them up at sites to transplant.
Barbara J Hickman, Staff Archeologist
Archeological Studies Program
Environmental Affairs Division
Texas Department of Transportation
125 East 11th Street
Austin TX 78701
Telephone: 512.416.2637
Fax: 512.416.2680
As of 1 August 2010, my email address has changed to
[log in to unmask] Please update your address book.
>>> On 24 March, 2011 at 3:50 PM, in message
<002001cbea65$2c2f87a0$848e96e0$@net>, Linda Derry <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
Lyle,
Maybe we should do this off list, but if we have a group that is really
interested in this, we could all get busy and compile lists with photos and
perhaps even regional historical documentation. AT the very least, it would
be good if everyone could research the Latin names for their plants, so we
all know that we are talking about the same plants.
Do you suppose this could make a good session at next year's SHA. This
discussion would benefit much from pictures.
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lyle E.
Browning
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 2:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vegetation and Historic Sites
This issue has gone to the list a number of times. Has anyone compiled a
spreadsheet with invasives and/or site indicators by region or state that we
could simply add to as we go along?
Lyle Browning, RPA
============================
Wishing on a four-leaf clover to help beautify Texas roads? Check out
TxDOT's Adopt-a-Highway Program at www.dot.state.tx.us/trv/aah/ and help
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