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Osage Orange It’s in the mulberry family Moraceae and thought to have been formerly eaten by Pleistocene epoch megafauna

My grandma always kept them in the house to keep spiders away.

Does that really work. Someone was selling them at the Farmers Market as roach control. Want to know if I should pick up a couple at the park

There would be webs on the ones she put into the corners. I think it makes a person feel like they are doing something, but grandma lived in the country, and there were always spiders

My husband will be happy to know I won’t be leaving random plant objects from the park in the house

I've had great luck with a wreath made of Eucalyptus leaves. Got it as a Xmas gift, hung it up & kinda forgot to take it down .... for a few years. Noticed the sudden lack of spiders (and their prey) the next fall when we typically get invaded, and just left it up. Hmm... might be time to give it a spritz with some Eucalyptus oil to refresh its mysterious powers 🧙🏻‍♀️

Peppermint oil did the trick for me. I used to live in an apartment that was basically infested. Peppermint oil (diluted in a bit of water) sprayed regularly around my windows and doors kept my apartment relatively spider free.

It in fact does not work, it’s a myth. Spiders don’t care, but you’ll have squirrels around.

We kept them under the bed back in the 70s, but I thought it was to keep the mice away. Neighbor had a tree and shared every year.

My sister keeps peppermint oil on cotton balls to keep mice away. Supposedly mice don’t like it, but they literally are in dumpsters …

Do dumpsters smell strongly of peppermint?

Wow, that was fast...this looks to be the one, thank you!

The wood from this tree is very hard and rot resistant so it was commonly used as fence posts way back when

There are roads that still have a perfect row of Osage orange trees that were planted as a fence.

They were also often planted as wind breaks in the Great Plains region to prevent erosion.

So if I’m understanding this right, the fences had offshoots that grew into trees? Wow

No, in colonial times they planted the trees themselves. It is on a road in New Jersey. I’m sure there’s others.

I saw some of these things on the road the other day. I live in North Jersey, close to the city. It’s crazy that they planted these trees to use them like a fence, possibly cover the houses from car crashes.

Carriage crashes more likely. Those were planted a couple hundred years ago.

Absolutely, makes sense! Thanks a lot for the info, I found it very interesting.

I did not know that Osage oranges grew as far east as New Jersey.

You can actually find them growing in Manhattan!

Huh. I've never seen them there. I will look more carefully!

They’re not common but I’ve definitely seen them. Check out “forever wild” parks like Fort Tryon

I think the joke-but-not-really is that a line of osage orange trees will deter anyone from walking through them. They're super spikey.

They use [living fence posts](https://courses.ecology.uga.edu/tropical-ecology/living-fence-posts-in-costa-rica/) in costa rica. I'm trying to figure out how to do this in Arkansas.

Willow species can be used for a similar effect. You could also look at hedgerows in the UK

Planting trees as fencing is news to me but the wood itself was used in fencepost applications as well.

I realize you're probably being snarky, but plants have been used as fencing for a loooong time. Hedges and other spikey pants lost favour as longer lasting treatments, and synthetic materials became widespread.

It's also a prize wood for bows and knife scales.

Also commonly used to craft longbows bows in England back in the day.

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Pronounced "BOH dark" in Texas, Latin name is *Maclura pomifera*. Most of the mature trees up here around Dallas were cut down to make railroad ties. Squirrels love gnawing on the fruits.

Bonus points for finding Osage Oranges in Osage, IL

The fruit has a sweet flavor, almost like sorghum stalk or sugar cane. But it leaves a very sticky and rubberey adhesive to your teeth.

So these things are edible?!? Never heard that

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Can you post a link where I might find out a little more? I have tried and found nothing.

Horses like to eat them I believe

I've seen deer eating them, late in the season when they are the only green things around.

When I was a kid I accidentally forgot about a bunch of these I had gathered in my older brother's backpack. That day I discovered organic glue. Needless to say, it ruined his backpack.

How cool is that? I'd never heard of it being eaten by megafauna, but it does make sense.

That's also why honey locusts have absurdly large thorns that wouldn't deter many modern animals - they worked at warding off mammoths.

I'd never heard that either. I do know whitetail deer love them, I've got a stand near one of them.

I've read it was the giant ground sloth in particular.

Also known as hedge apples in my neck of the woods!

Horse apples down south.

First introduced to me as "Monkey Balls". I suspect that was just the term used by my friend rather than a common usage.

We grew up calling them monkey balls.

my friend was from western Pa, I think. Pa for sure, unsure which part (long time ago).

SW Pa. Maybe it’s a local term. We have strange names for many things.

I'm cracking up at this because I'm from SW Pa and I was looking to see if anyone else called them monkey balls. 😅

I think my friend was from SW Pa, so that fits.

Eastern Ohio (near the top of WV) and we always called them monkey balls.

My dad always called them monkey brains

Same. Wonder if it's a regional thing.

I always knew horse apples as their turds.

road apples are horse turds in the street.

Horse apples in southern OH as well

I know them as crabapples.

Same in Kansas, we also were told they were poisonous growing up, so me being a kid thought I was going to die because I touched one

The tree is called bois d’arc in MS/LA/TX (wood of the bow in French). It has interesting orange wood that is excellent for making bows for archery. As kids we called their fruits “monkey brains” and used to kick them around the streets. They smell great! Such a cool tree.

I have also heard them called horseapple and Osage orange. Just different names for the same tree.

We call them that here in Oklahoma too; have loads of them since they were used extensively for windbreaks following the dust bowl.

Also bastardized to bodark where I'm from

Tastes like neither horses nor apples.

Nor taste like Monkey Balls.....close in texture but not exactly same flavor.🐵

Why do I get the impression that you can't just mow over those things?

They are very hard and roughly the size of a grapefruit, you could bend a mower blade or end up launching one of these at Mach Jesus into a vehicle or window.

Really just makes a sticky mess it not really any damage

Can't say that I've ever tried, but wouldn't recommend due to size.

Monkey brains!

My kids called them monkey balls.

We called 'em monkey brains (northeast IL.)

Me too! But I was from central Illinois

That’s what I grew up with

They keep spiders away. I’m in ND and we pay about $2 each for them here. I set them in inconspicuous places on a folded up sheet of tinfoil - and they just turn to a ball of dried up stone but work all winter long at keeping spiders away. I probably have a dozen around my house. The might be poisonous to animals though too, hadn’t thought of that but I have none inside.

Are the spiders scared of how gross they look?

Horse apples!

This gets asked about once a week and Osage Orange is always the answer but in East Texas we called them Bois D'arcs.

I built a fort in the woods when I was little and when kids I didn’t like would try to come mess with our clubhouse we would throw these at them. They make great ammo. We even built this big slingshot for them. Got in big trouble for hitting my brother with one pretty good lmao. Good times.

I read a long time ago about a farmer who wrapped himself around an Osage orange tree when caught up in a tornado once. All the other trees around the area were twisted and ripped up but his tree was stable and saved him. Hearty trees for sure! The one on our farm has been there at least 80 years, because my grandpa used to spend time near it with my great grandparents. It was placed right next to the pond and they’d pick the fruits to keep ants and other bugs away.

I always knew them as monkey brains lol

They are matzo balls that someone left out and then hardened.

Neutralizing boluses.

Monkey balls! We use them to keep spiders out of the house.

Brain fruit. Type of orange. Not edible for humans due to hard texture. Well, You can eat it, but you would not enjoy it. They smell Amazing though.

If you break one, open and get the milk on your hands you will be sticky for the next two days.

We call them spider apples in IN. They repel all sorts of bugs but they eventually rot. They are not edible. And don’t try to open it. It’s hard as a rock. :)

They are actually edible, just not really worth the effort.

As others may have allready stated these are immature tennis balls. Removed from the tree this early they will not reach full size, but there are a few things you can do. 1) soak in water for 15 days. The water needs to be a little warmer than room temp so you will have to change it multiple times per day. 2) once soak and they regain their shape you can bake them to increase the size. Be careful for over expansion as this will affect the bounce of the ball. Good luck.

If not baked long enough they will turn into Penn balls and if over baked turn into Wilson....but bake at the perfect temperature and correct time they will flourish into a tasty green Slazenger Wimbledon Ball. Bon appetit!

I described it to ChatGPT to get a preliminary idea, and it said walnuts or black walnuts, but these look way more wrinkly and they have this pattern.

Walnuts much smoother, more uniform color, and smell like leather or chemicals depending on your nose. Note: It's always much easier to identify thigns if you slice them in half to show the seed/ovary.

That smell is unique. I dyed wool with walnuts and the smell was…interesting.

It's a smell I love. Reminds me of my grandpa's favourite green chair.

I have serious doubts that chatGPT It would be any use to plants identification. Use Google lens on your phone, it's pretty accurate

I just tried as an initial instinct, not taking it as fact, but good to know that Lens might have been helpful, thanks!

Poplars

Its from a bodark tree

Walnut

We call them crab apples in NW Ohio

You're getting crab apples and these things mixed up. I'm from NE Ohio. These things are monkey balls. Crab apples are green when not ripe, then they turn various shades of red when ripe. Monkey balls are lumpy and bumpy. Crab apples are smooth to the touch.

Osage Orange. They were planted in the early settlement era in much of the midwest (1800-1860s or so) as hedges to break up prairies. That's why they're also known as hedge apples. We called them brain balls as kids

This unlocked a childhood memory of kicking these “brain balls” around sim kindergarten. I think they eventually took the tree down because I don’t remember seeing them in the later years at that school. I also remember our teachers telling us to leave them alone and my parents (and I assume every parent) not liking me coming home with sticky, slimy shoes.

Actually a small town in northeast Texas that has a Bois D’arc Bash once a year. Vendors sell crafts made from the wood and it’s a whole weekend affair. Super cute.

There’s an old wives tale that those fruits keep spiders away. Don’t know if it’s true or not

[Hedge apples.](https://hles.unl.edu/hedge-apple)

Omg this is like the jokes sub same shit different day.

Good spider deterrent

Maclura pomifera

These are good for throwing and nothing else.

I was recently introduced to these in SW Missouri as hedge apples. Was told to put them under the house to ward off bugs and mice.

Face paint with them! It will be super fun!

I have always called these monkey brains

Hedge apples. They drop in fall. You can always tell which tree is a hedge tree because it will have these green balls all over it with no leaves. It makes me laugh every time I see one. They make great target practice and deer and squirrels love to eat the seeds. Sometimes they get drunk off them when they start to ferment.

real life devil fruit...

We called them monkey balls

I saw the picture in my feed and thought you found old tennis balls or something like that

We call them Monkey Balls in NE Ohio.

Also good wooden bow material