January 2021
Osage Orange or what some call Hedge Apple, Maclura pomifera, is a common tree of old hedgerows and field edges throughout Northern Illinois. It’s wood had many uses by early settlers, it was widely planted to form thorny hedges to keep livestock enclosed before the advent of barbed wire, and the softball size bright green fruit is often sold for holiday decorations. But this native species has lost the animals that it evolved with, that ate the fruit and spread its seeds, making it one of several trees that are “Ghosts of Evolution.” These includes Paw Paw, Honey Locust, and Kentucky Coffeetree. Few animals that now exist eat the fruit, pods and seeds from these trees, leaving it to Native Americans and settlers to spread the plants to new habitats.
Jerry Paulson, Wild Ones of Rock River Valley board member and former director of the Natural Land Institute, will talk about the natural history of Osage Orange and other ghost trees, and the role that humans play in the survival of these species, for the January 2021 program via Zoom. He will draw on information from Connie Barlow’s book, “The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners and Other Ecological Anachronisms” (2000), and other sources.