"folkloric insect repellant?"  Yes this is true, but there are scientific
studies that prove that  the essential oil of Osage orange or Maclura
pomifera (bois arc) is actually repellent to German cockroaches.


Linda Derry
Site Director
Old Cahawba
719 Tremont St.
Selma, AL 36701
ph. 334/875-2529
fax. 334/877-4253
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-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lyle E.
Browning
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 9:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Bois d'Arc Log Foundation

On Aug 4, 2012, at 3:15 PM, Leslie C. Skip Stewart-Abernathy wrote:
> snip.
> 
> And yes, bodark evidently had it's last refuge in a small region in NE
Texas and into the nearby Ouachitas in Arkansas.  According to David Jurney
as elaborated by Frank Schambach (the tie to the bodark bow trade is
significant), the huge "horse apple" fruits were inedible after the decline
of the megafauna and thus the seeds for replacement trees were not being
distributed naturally any more.  So the range was becoming more and more
restricted until 19th century folks started shipping seeds around.

The former world record Osage Orange tree was recently dethroned. This
monster was about 7 feet in diameter. It was located at Red Hill in
Charlotte County, VA. They were also planted as hedgerows supposedly in the
early 19th century on Eppes Island in Charles City County, VA where it
reaches diameters of 3 feet and 60 feet in height with interlocking branches
that won't blow over in storms, as designed.

The wood makes better fenceposts than locust, burns with amazing colors as
firewood, and makes a very exotic gunstock in color and grain. But the
oranges are the absolute favorite food for gray squirrels, by which they are
spread. The trees were also grown as an exotic ornamental in a variety of
places in VA.

A more prosaic use is for household ornamentation and as a folkloric insect
repellant.

Lyle Browning, RPA=