Here's a good link to Maclura pomifera, a.k.a. Osage Orange, Bois de'arc, 
Hedge Apple, and Horse Apple, and its use as hedgerows.  B. Fontana

http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/plantoftheweek/articles/Osage_Orange.htm


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeanette McKenna" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: Vegetation and Historic Sites


> 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
> make that wish come true.