Madura aurantiaca, 



THE OSAGE ORANGE-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



Madura aurantiaca, 



NuTTALL, North American Sylva. 

 La.mdert, Supplement to Piims. 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britaanicum. 



France. 

 Germany. 



Madura orange, Murier des Osages, Bois 



d'arc, 

 Pomeranzengelbe Maclura, 

 Madura, Braziletto giallo ? Sandalo giallo ? Italy. 

 Ayac, Osage Indians. 



Madura, Osage Orange-tree, Britain. 



Madura, Osage Orange-tree, Osage Ap- j anglo-America. 



pie-tree, Yellow-wood, Bow-wood, ) 



Derivations. The specific name aurantiaca is derived from the Latin aurum, gold; from the colour of the fruit of lliis spe 

 Cies. Il was called Buis d'arc, (l)OW-wood,) by the French Canadians, on account of being used by Ihe Osages for making 

 hunting-bows. 



Engravings. Nutlall, North American Sylva, pi. 38; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, iii., fig. 1226, 1227 el 1229; and 

 the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves smooth, lucid, ovate-acuminate, petiolate, entire, with a recurved spine near 

 the base. Flowers axillarj', peduncled, and occurring in small umbels. Fruit an ajcillary berry, sub- 

 sessile, drooping, yellow, and about the size of an orange. 



Description. 



HE Madura aii-Vs 

 rantiaca, in its v\ 

 natural habitat, y 



_ _^^^^ is a beautiful de- \ 



ciduous tree, usually growing to a height of 

 twenty-five or thirty feet, with a trunk from \ 

 twelve to eighteen inches in diameter ; but, 

 in very favourable situations, it sometimes 

 attains double of these dimensions. The 

 branches, which are covered with a smooth, 

 grayish bark, are somewhat inclined to 

 spread, when old, though, at first, the tree 

 presents an elegant, roundish summit. " But 

 at all times, it strikes the beholder as some- 

 thing remarkable, in the northern forest, by 

 the beauty and splendour of its dark and 

 shining foliage, which, in appearance, 

 strongly resembles that of the orange, and 

 the numerous spines, which the branches 

 present, seem to confirm the comparison."* The leaves, which are broad, and 

 from two to four inches long, are alternate, ovate, acuminate, having a cuspidate 

 point, smooth, entire, of a briglit, shining green on the upi)cr siirlace, with the 

 petioles and nerves beneath, pubescent, when young; but, on the branches bear- 

 ing fruit, they are somewhat larger, and heart-shaped at the base. The spines, 

 which are produced in the upper axils of the leaves, are simple, rather strong, 



* Nuttall, North A nerican Sylva, p. 127. 

 59 



