466 MACLURA AURANTIACA. 
and an inch or more in length. The male flowers, which put forth in April or 
May, are inconspicuous, nearly green, with a slight tinge of yellow, and occur in 
small, pedunculated, axillary umbels. "The female capitulum consists of a 
congeries of flowers united into a globular form, about the size of a cherry; they 
consist also in a calyx of four divisions, but less regular than the male. The 
styles and stigmas, one to each germ, are three-fourths of an inch long, giving to 
the ament the appearance of a tuft of long, pubescent threads."* The fruit, 
which matures at Philadelphia, in September or October, is of the size and gen- 
eral appearance, at a distance, of a large Seville orange. It consists of numer- 
ous, radiating, somewhat woody fibres, terminating in a verrucose, reticulated 
surface, resembling that of a truffle, or the bread-fruit; and contains, when per- 
fect, numerous, obovate, depressed seeds (or nuts, as they are botanically termed,) 
about the size of those of an orange, and a considerable quantity of a sweetish, 
lacteous fluid, which, when exposed to the action of the air, coagulates like 
milk. 
Geography and History. The Maclura aurantiaca is indigenous to Arkansas, 
Texas, and upper Missouri, and is cultivated for ornament or use, in most of the 
collections and gardens, both in Europe and in America. It is perfectly hardy 
in the climate of London, and of New York, and has ripened its fruit at Lyons, 
at Clairvaux, near Chatellerault, and at Montpellier, in France ; at Monza, in 
Italy ; and in the United States, as far north as Philadelphia ; but as we proceed 
eastward or northward of that city, although the tree survives the winters in the 
vicinity of Boston, without much protection, it begins to dwindle, and at Mon- 
treal, in Canada, it will barely live. 
This species was first noticed by the travellers, Hunter and Dunbar, on the 
banks of Red River, and in the deep, fertile bottoms of the adjacent valley. It 
was also observed along the rivers Arkansas and Canadian, by Dr. James, in 
Major Long's expedition, the banks of the former being considered as its north- 
ernmost limit, as an indigenous tree. It was first cultivated among the white 
settlers of the west, in about the year 1800, in the garden of M. Chouteau, at St. 
Louis, on the Mississippi, where it was propagated from some seeds procured from 
a village of Osage Indians ; whence it obtained its popular name. It was subse- 
quently planted in the nursery of the late Mr. M'Mahon, of Philadelphia, from 
seeds collected by Lewis and Clarke, on their western expedition, in 1803 to 1805 ; 
and shortly after, in the garden of Mr. Landreth, in Federal street, of the same 
city, where, one of the original trees still exists, and has attained the height of 
thirty feet, with a large, round head, and a trunk two feet in diameter. This 
tree annually produces fruit, which has been rendered perfect, by tying on the 
branches, when in bloom, stameniferous flowers, obtained from a distant tree. 
The trees propagated by Mr. M'Mahon, were planted two and two, each pair 
being about four hundred feet apart. In the year 1831, it was discovered that 
one of these trees produced larger fruit than the others, and that this fruit con- 
tained perfect seeds. Two of the other trees produced smaller fruit, but the seeds 
they contained were abortive; while one of the trees was entirely barren. The 
next year, it was further discovered, that the barren tree was a male plant; and 
that the one by its side that had produced perfect seeds, was a female. f 
At Beaver Dam, in Virginia, a female tree of this species, with a large, globular 
head, yielded, in 1835, one hundred and fifty fruits, many of which weighed 
eighteen or nineteen ounces each. 
There is also a cultivated tree of this sort, in the Bartram botanic garden, at 
Kingsessing, which has attained the height of twenty feet, with a trunk ten 
inches in diameter, and fruits freely every year. 
* Nuttall, North American Sylva, p. 129. f American Gardener's Magazine, ii., p. 77. 
