Osage orange

 

These Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) trees still stand in a row just east of the Inn at Turkey Run State Park.  A relic of pre-Civil War Indiana, the Osage orange is not native to this part of North America but was made popular with farmers as a spin-off of their discovery by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Osage orange trees would be planted in a tight row and the thorny trees would keep livestock fenced in.  Osage orange fences fell out of favor after the Civil War as barbed wire became available but the trees persist here at Turkey Run and elsewhere in Indiana.

Link to Lewis and Clark and Osage orange:

Link to Maclura pomifera:

Link to previous post on Osage orange:

 

Picture taken March 18, 2014.