The wood Osage-orange tree makes is loved by archers for its bows and also makes great fence posts. The hedge apples, though, that are its fruit are almost worthless. No, Anthony, they do not make a great insect repellent.
Hedge apples William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-30-19
It’s a relative of the mulberry, believe it or not. The fruit can be fed to livestock.
Because the Indians used its wood for making bows, French explorers called it “bois d’arc”, “bow-wood”. This survives in the dialect along the Mississippi as “bowdark tree”.
Cool. Thanks Brad.