Latin Name:Maclura Pomifera
Can reach a height of 60 feet.
Average log diameter: 8-16 inches
Grows in southern and central U.S.
Produces small inedible green-yellow fruit resembling oranges.
Color: vibrant yellow-orange heartwood ages to honey color, sapwood in white.
Properties: very hard, average weight, very strong, rot resistant.
Uses: The premier bow wood for archers, also good for turnings, good for furniture although tree size is a limitation.

Two hundred years ago the French in North America called this wood Bois D'arc or bow wood. Today, people who live where this wood grows call it bodock. The Osage Indians who lived in what is now Texas and Oklahoma first used this wood for bows. Eventually its use as a bow wood was exported to all the Plains Indians. Bows made from this wood can shoot an arrow lighting fast. However, novice bow makers should beware of some pitfalls in selecting this wood. The sapwood is extremely poor for a bow and should be avoided completely. Also, the heartwood can be inferior if it has a high percentage of early wood. Early wood is the first growth after the dormancy of winter. It grows fast and is less dense than the late wood. The finest bow wood will have broad rings of the darker late wood and thin rings of the lighter early wood. No one is certain why some trees grow with more early wood. Some have speculated that it might have something to do with sex. Osage Orange is a dioeceous tree, meaning there are male and female trees. Perhaps Masters and Johnson could investigate and clear up this mystery.

Howard Hatch