The unpopular Osage Orange

The Osage Orange is tree indigenous to the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. It was food for the mastadons, and at one time, it's range spread as far north as Ottawa. Because Native Americans used it's orange wood for bows, French settlers first called it Bois d' Arc. Today, "bodark" is the tree's most common name. Before the invention of barbed wire fencing, bodark was grows for thick fence/hedge rows. It is thorny enough to keep animals in--or predators out. It remained a commodity for fence posts, but fell into disuse when most folks started using metal stakes. Spinners use osage orange to dye wool with, yielding yellows to reddish orange. I've heard that the fruit of the tree repels roaches, but have had no confirmation that it works.