Longtime Westporter — and even longer outdoor enthusiast — Scott Smith has a knack for seeing what most of us miss, all around us right here in our home town.
From time to time, Scott shares his observations with “06880.” Today he writes:
My regular walks along Hillspoint Road, between Sherwood Mill Pond and Compo Beach, always get more interesting this time of year. I see splats of the big fat lime-green fruit that falls along the bend in the road.
The funky roadkill is from the Osage orange (Maclura pomifera), a tree native to the Red River Valley of southern Arkansas, southern Oklahoma and northeast Texas. Known for its thorny branches, grapefruit-size fruits and decay-resistant wood, it was widely planted as a living fence by homesteaders, a practice that allowed its spread across much of the country.
Before the invention of barbed wire in the 1880s, thousands of miles of hedge were constructed by planting Osage orange trees closely together in a line. “Horse-high, bull-strong, and pig-tight,” is how the sodbusters described it.
They also gave it a lot of names: monkey ball, mock orange, horse apple, hedge apple, hedge ball, pap, monkey brains, and yellow-wood, our Wiki friends tell us.
Hillspoint Road hedge apple …
After barbed wire made such hedge fences obsolete, the trees found use as a source of rot-resistant fence posts and an effective windbreak. I figure that is how 2 of the trees found their way a long time ago to Compo Cove.
The fruit is inedible to humans. But I’ve read that squirrels will tear them open to get to the seeds and pulp inside, and other foraging animals will consume the seeds.
My son and I brought some home over the years. The overstuffed deer and squirrels in our yard never touch them.
I’m more intrigued by the theory that this strange fruit is a leftover from the Ice Age, when megafauna like 10-foot-tall ground sloths, mammoths and mastodons roamed the land.
The Osage orange, the thinking goes, developed super-sized fruit for these prehistoric beasts, which then dispersed the partially digested seeds they ate.
… and tree …
With the extinction of the great mammals by Pleistocene hunters, the Osage orange became an “anachronism”—a species whose adaptations no longer have a co-evolved partner in the modern ecosystem.
I suppose you could also argue that this relic of a tree also had a role in its own demise. Its branches were prized by the Osage Native Americans for the construction of strong yet limber bows (another name for the tree is “Bodark,” an altered version of “bois d’arc” or “bow wood,” coined by early French explorers).
I imagine the Osage were not the first indigenous people to weaponize this stout wood.
In any event, I thank the homeowner — and Westport’s Public Works Department — for putting up with the seasonal mess all these years.
And I applaud these plucky survivors for finding such a scenic and lasting home here in Westport.
(You learn something new every day from “06880” — at least, we hope you do. If you enjoy stories like this — or anything else we post — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
… and a quished monkey ball. (All photos/Scott Smith)
Thanks for the info. I finally have a name for them for years every fall I collect at least six or eight of them, and I use them as a fall foliage, colorful, lime, green accent accessory in my cornucopia centerpiece for Thanksgiving I just saw a few squashed the other day and I thought I better go down and pick up my perfect ones. So now I will tell my grandchildren they’re called monkey balls. They’ll love it. Thanks for sharing,
Thank you, Scott. for the interesting intel. I have wondered about this seasonal curiosity for years.
can we try them on a pickel ball court ?
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you, Scott, for taking the time to share this. A friend says that every day we go to school. Thanks to Dan, this includes Sundays.
Thanks, all. Well said, Morley! Serious question: What would Westport be like as a community without Dan and “06880”?
That is very true Scott. The strange thing is that many many faithful readers do not donate each year. To produce this blog every day is a full time job. please remind all friends and relatives who read 06880 each day to make a contribution.
Where else would folks go to read the daily dose of whining, ‘look at me’ posts, ‘what about the community gardens..’, and the weekly dig whistles about affordable housing?
Well, Chris … you’re here. And whining.
I’m not quite sure where I’m whining Dan?
We come here for the comedic relief the posts you and your constituents provide ample doses of. And Dan, we are thankful.
Glory Days are alive and well!
Did James Comey live in Westport? I thought I may have read that on your blog? Some book he wrote Or is Reddit pulling our leg?
Comey did live here, for several years. He came here when he worked with Bridgewater Associates, then stayed while FBI director (so his kids did not have to change schools).
Here are some of the stories I posted about him: https://06880danwoog.com/?s=comey
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These were plentiful in Southern Ohio; we called them Hedge Apples.
loved this info. always wondered about them and prayed I wouldn’t get hit by one while walking
We’ve always called it the “Tennis Ball Tree.”
Great job Johnny Appleseed!