Size: 10-15 m (35-50 feet), large understory.

Leaves and Flowers: Leaves are alternate, simple, egg shaped (widest near the stem), smooth edges. dense small circular clusters, and yellow-green.

Each plant has either male or female flowers (dioecious). Fruit is round, up to 13 cm (6 inches) in diameter, greenish and called a "hedge apple".

Habitat: savanna, woods.

Range: Osage Orange is native only to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas; today it is commonly planted elsewhere. After the settling of Illinois by Europeans, thousands of miles of hedges were planted around farm fields, but it did not grow here during the time of the Sauk and Mesquakie (Sac and Fox).

Uses: Wood from the Osage Orange was sought in trade and used to make bows, in fact, it was the only wood considered for bow making in this area. There is still no Osage Orange at the historic site. The Sauk hunted bison with bows "made of bois d'arc", a synonym for Osage Orange. (Skinner, Alanson p. 141).