SEP 1 1914 



Division of Forestry 

 University of California 



Issued April 29, 1907. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



FOREST SERVICE CIRCULAR 90. 

 GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester. 



FOREST PLANTING LEAFLET. 



OS AGE ORANGE (Toxylon pomiferum). 



FORM AND SIZE. 



The Osage orange is a tree of medium size, with a short trunk, 

 ridged scaly bark, and wide-spreading branches. The trunk is gen- 

 erally somewhat crooked and the top is inclined to be distorted and 

 scraggy. Within its natural range, the tree occasionally reaches a 

 height of 60 or 70 feet and a diameter of 2 feet. This size, however, 

 is not attained elsewhere. It produces a compound globular fruit 

 that looks somewhat like an orange, is yellow when ripe, and contains 

 a large number of seeds. 



RANGE. 



The natural range of the Osage orange is from the Arkansas River 

 south through southeastern Indian Territory to southern Texas. In 

 the forest its principal associates are the oaks, elms, and hickories. 

 It grows on rich bottom lands and fertile slopes and appears to be 

 most abundant and to attain its greatest size in the valley of the Red 

 River in Indian Territory. Cultivation has given it an artificial dis- 

 tribution of much greater extent. 



The range of the Osage orange for economic planting includes the 

 Middle Western States from central Illinois southward and westward 

 to eastern Colorado and New Mexico. It is hardy as far north as 

 Massachusetts, but is likely to be winterkilled during severe seasons 

 in the northern part of Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois. 



HABITS AND GROWTH. 



The Osage orange adapts itself to a great variety of soil and cli- 

 matic conditions and within its planted range is surpassed in hardi- 

 ness only by the red cedar. It will endure a great amount of neglect 

 29345 No. 9007 M 



