Madura aurantiaca, 
THE OSAGE ORANGE-TREE. 
Synonymes. 
Madura aurantiaca, 
Nuttall, North American Sylva. 
Lambert, Supplement to Pinus. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britaamcum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Madura orange, Murier des Osages, Bois 
d'arc, 
Pomeranzengelbe Maclura, 
Madura, Braziletto giallo ? Sandalo giallo ? Italy. 
Ayac, Osage Indians. 
Maclura, Osage Orange-tree, Britain. 
Maclura, Osage Orange-tree, Osage An- ) . 
pie-tree, Yellow-wood, Bow-wood, | Anglo-America. 
Derivations. The specific name aurantiaca is derived from the Latin aurum, gold ; from the colour of the fruit of this spe- 
cies. It was called Bois d'arc, (bow-wood,) by the French Canadians, on account of being used by the Osages fur making 
hunting-bows. 
Engravings. Nuttall, North American Sylva, pi. 33; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, iii., fig. 1226, 1227 et 1223; and 
the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves smooth, lucid, ovate-acuminate, petiolate, entire, with a recurved spine in:ir 
the base. Flowers axillary, peduncled, and occurring in small umbels. Fruit an axillary berry, sub- 
sessile, drooping, yellow, and about the size of an orange. 
Description. 
'MMUB Maclura au- 
p (G| rantiaca, in its 
f% J |jr? natural habitat, 
!<^5ll 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 brandies 
present, seem to confirm the comparison."* The leaves, which arc broad, and 
from two to four inches long, are alternate, ovate, acuminate, having a cuspidate 
point, smooth, entire, of a bright, shining green on the upper surface, with the 
petioles and nerves beneath, pubescent, when foung; 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, arc simple, rather Btrong, 
* Nuttall, North A nerican Sylva, p. 127. 
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