Osage orange seeds

Osage orange (Adam's apple) / Maclura pomifera - is a deciduous tree growing up to 20 meters high, the Mulberry family (Moraceae). Develops a branched, dense, spreading crown. The trunk of the maclura is slender and covered with dark brown bark. The shoots are spiny, the branches are geniculate and curved, spines up to 2.5 cm long are located in the axils of the leaves. The leaves of Maclura are alternate, ovate, with a sharp apex, entire, dark green, shiny, lighter on the underside, measuring 12 x 7.5 cm. The leaves acquire a beautiful golden-yellow color in the autumn.

Maclura flowers are small, light green: staminate - collected in earrings, pistillate - in compact spherical heads. Maclura is very impressive during its fruiting period; at this time, large, up to 15 cm in diameter, wrinkled orange fruits, very similar in shape and color to an orange, abundantly decorate the tree. The collected fruits have a long shelf life (about six months). Maclura grows quickly.

It is light-loving and can tolerate some shading in the south. It is undemanding to the soil and tolerates even saline soils. Very drought-resistant, wind-resistant and salt-tolerant. Withstands city conditions well. Propagated by seeds, layering, cuttings.

Due to the high decorative properties of orange maclura, it is one of the economically valuable plants, promising for use in ornamental gardening. Recommended for use in gardens and parks in the form of prickly hedges, edges, group and single plantings (solitaries), as well as for creating protective strips and reclamation plantings. In ornamental gardening, it is valued for its original fruits, which are called «Chinese» or «Indian orange».