When it's time to seed, the fruits get kind of fuzzy. And the inside of the fruit is fibrous and white. When you break one open, they look like a tightly compacted dandelion puff.
K also mentions that they've been used as natural fences, trained as dense hedges that ranchers prized for being "bull strong, hog tight & horse high." Split rails from the wood are also popular fence posts. In addition to these heavy fruit, the trees have broad glossy leaves and one-inch thorns. (Kind of like mesquite or honey locust thorns.) That'll keep those cattle in line, kids. But they can also grow to be 50ft tall with 60ft crowns.
The tree is called Bois d'Arc, French for "bow wood" because apparently it makes great hunting bows. (Warning: link not suitable for vegetarians & PETA.)
Lewis & Clark collected botanical samples in their explorations of the Lousiana Territory, and the Bodarc was the first tree they sent back East. Meriwether sent slips & cuttings to Prez Thomas Jefferson with a note saying "dude, check this weird shit out" or "I send you herewith inclosed, some slips of the Osages Plums, and Apples. I fear the season is too far advanced for their success. [ . . . ] An opinion prevails among the Osages, that the fruit is poisonous, tho' they acknowledge that they have never tasted it."
The essential oils of the Bodarc fruit are apparently abhorred by the cockroach, or so says Iowa University. Right on!
The fruit also has craft applications, and was once featured on the Martha Stewart show as a decoration in its natural state, or it can also be dried. The ash makes a beautiful glaze for pottery. (I remember them as being kind of smelly, and Kaplan remembers them being sticky, so I'm not sure how practical a decor item they'd make without being dried. Maybe if they were really green they'd be OK for a while.) They can also be used to make a natural yellow-gold dye for wool and other textiles. Since the wood is particularly dense and also has this golden color, it's frequently used for knife handles, star-spangled yo-yos, and other decorative purposes.
Whatever you do, don't attempt to eat it. It's fragrance might remind you of oranges, and it does look very like the Polynesian breadfruit or the Hawaiian jackfruit (comically posed above), but it'll probably make you sick unless you are a Giant Ground Sloth. (You're not. They're extinct.)
Luckily, I look much less like a Bodarc fruit today.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I reserve the right to delete unwanted comments or ban users by IP address as necessary. Please don't make it necessary.