Buds: Round, reddish-brown, smooth, very tiny.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, long-pointed at the tip, narrowed or a little bit heart-shaped at the base, up to 5 inches long and 3½ inches broad, smooth along the edges, green and smooth on both surfaces; leafstalks smooth, up to 2 inches long.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne on separate trees, yellow-green, very tiny, the staminate crowded in short clusters on stalks up to 4 inches long, the pistillate crowded into spherical heads on short, stout stalks.
Fruit: Large, spherical, greenish-yellow compound fruit up to 6 inches in diameter, containing many seeds, succulent flesh, and milky sap.
Wood: Heavy, hard, flexible, durable, coarse-grained, orange when first cut, becoming brown.
Uses: Bows, fence posts, railroad ties, tool handles; often planted as a windbreak.
Habitat: Hedge-rows, woods.
Range: Native only in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas; commonly planted elsewhere and often escaped from cultivation.
Distinguishing Features: The Osage Orange is distinguished by its spiny branches, its long-pointed, toothless leaves, its milky sap, and its large, spherical, yellow-green fruits.
