>>Hi, we're here today
to talk about a plant
that has a different name now
than it did back in history.
It's the Osage orange,
but back in Lewis
and Clark's time,
it was known as the Osage apple.
We're lucky to
have this tree here
at the Lewis and Clark
Exploratory Center,
and we actually have more than
one, we have at least four.
It is the first plant
that Lewis wrote about
on the expedition to Jefferson.
He actually wrote about
it in March of 1804,
and he sent Jefferson
plantings of the tree.
We have some of the
original descendants
of those trees here
in Charlottesville.
The Osage orange has
a male and a female,
only the females
have the fruits.
And they also have
different types of flowers.
Historically, the megafauna,
giant ground sloths
and mammoths, ate
the Osage orange.
Today, there's nothing that
naturally eats the Osage orange,
but if the acorn crop fails,
the squirrels will
actually eat it.
But even they don't
think it's very tasty.
The Osage orange can really
grow in any kind of soil.
It can grow in clay,
it can grow in loam,
so there's no particular
kind of environment
or culture that it needs.
It's related to
the mulberry tree.
In the days of the megafauna,
it actually extended
throughout North America.
Let's go under the tree,
and I'll tell you
a few more details.
Now that we're under the tree,
we can see this shoot
with long spines.
In the late 1800s
these spines were used
to keep cattle and
sheep on the prairie.
So it was really part of
taming the American West.
This was before the
invention of barbed wire,
which came in the late 1800s.
Now the tree was also revered
by the Native Americans,
who would travel hundreds
of miles to get its wood.
The bow and arrow
made from this tree
would last
potentially 100 years.
It's both flexible and hard.
When this Osage
orange tree is small,
it's almost bush-like,
not tree like,
and there are many more spines
and shoots that come out.
This is actually an example
of a tree at its full growth,
they don't really grow
past 50 feet high.
Now, the Osage orange
has a third name
that I haven't told you
about, Monkey Brains.
And all the children who
come here to visit the center
call it monkey brains,
and then they have a great
time throwing them around
using them like bowling balls.
Now my reason for loving
this tree is different,
and it's because it's a
reminder of our natural history.
When I look at the Osage orange,
I remember the mastodons,
the giant ground sloths,
and the mammoths.
I'm Alexandria Searles,
and I'm the Executive Director
of the Lewis and Clark
Exploratory Center.
