Thursday, March 27, 2025
Once numerous in Coryell County as well as the State of Texas, Bois-D’arc trees have now become rare – few and far between.
What is a Bois-D’arc tree? The tree itself is medium in size and can reach heights of 40 feet tall. The tree produces what has been described as a large, spherical green fruit ranging from four to five inches in diameter and resembles a green, wrinkled orange.
Having no use what-so-ever, the large green fruit has several names including horse apples, hedge apples, Osage-oranges, and simply Bois-D’arc.
The name “Bois-D’arc” originated from French words meaning “bow wood,” which was a reference to the use by Native Americans who used the wood from the trees to make bows and war clubs, since the wood was heavy and extremely hard.
Legend has it that the earliest mention of the tree and “apples” in the English language was given by William Dunbar, a Scottish explorer, in a written account he made of his journey from St. Catherine’s Landing on the Mississippi River in 1804.
Explorer Meriwether Lewis sent cuttings of the curious tree to President Thomas Jefferson in March of 1804.
Early American settlers used the Bois-D’arc trees as hedges to exclude free-range stock from their vegetable gardens and corn fields. The thorny tree was widely used as barriers in the early days of the United States until the invention of barbed wire in 1874. Thus, becoming known as the hedge apple tree.
The Bois-D’arc tree was largely restricted to a small area in the United States known as the Red River drainage area of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and the Blackland Prairie.
In addition to making bows for weapons, the Comanche tribe used a concoction made from the roots of the tree and would have used it topically as a wash to treat sore eyes.
Today, Bois-D’arc trees have diminished in population, but a few of the trees can still be found in Coryell County.
