Maclura pomifera C. Schneider, Moraceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 5 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Ioxylon pomiferum Raf.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: bow-wood, hedge-apple, osage-orange

French: bois d'arc, maclure épineux, oranger des osages

Spanish: machura, madera de arco, naranjo de los osages

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Trees, to 20 m. Bark dark orange-brown, shallowly furrowed, ridges flat, often peeling into long, thin strips. Branchlets greenish yellow, becoming orange-brown; thorns stout, straight, to 1.5 cm, usually lateral to spur branch, spur branches often paired. Buds often paired, larger one red-brown, globose, 1.5-2 mm; scales ciliate; leaf scars half round, bundle scars arranged in oval. Leaves: stipules lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm, pubescent and long-ciliate; petiole 1-2.5 cm, pubescent. Leaf blade 4-12 x 2-6 cm, base rounded, apex acuminate; surfaces abaxially pale, glabrate, midrib and veins pubescent, adaxially lustrous, glabrous, midrib somewhat pubescent. Staminate inflorescences clustered on lateral spur branches; peduncle 1-1.5 cm, pubescent; heads globose or cylindric, 1.3-2.3 cm; pedicels 2-10 mm, glabrate. Pistillate inflorescences: peduncle 2-2.5 mm, glabrous or pubescent; heads globose, sessile on obconic receptacle, to 1.5 cm diam. Staminate flowers: sepals distinct, yellow-green, ca. 1 mm, apex acute, pubescent; filaments ca. 2 mm, closely appressed to sepals, flattened. Pistillate flowers: sepals green, obovate, 3 mm, enclosing and closely appressed to ovary, hoodlike, ciliate near tip; ovary ovoid, compressed, ca. 1 mm; style base green, ca. 3 mm, branches 4-6 mm, glabrous; stigma yellowish, papillose. Syncarps yellow-green to green, spheric, surface irregular, exuding milky sap when broken, peduncle short, glabrous or pubescent; achenes completely covered by accescent, thickened calyx lobes and deeply embedded in receptacle. Seeds cream colored, oval to oblong, 8-12 x 5-6 mm, base truncate or rounded with 1-3 minute points, margins with narrow groove, apex rounded, mucronate; surfaces minutely striated or pitted"  (Flora of North America online).

Habitat/ecology:  In the United States (native and introduced):  "Thickets; 0-1500 m"  (Flora of North America online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  United States (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas); cultivated and naturalized elsewhere (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1939) (voucher ID: BISH 446928) Taxon name on voucher: Maclura pomifera C.Schneider

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	introduced invasive cultivated	National Herbarium of New South Wales (2011) "Cultivated as an ornamental; locally naturalized around early settlements".
Canada Canada	Canada (country)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011) Ontario
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)	introduced	Belov, Michail (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 844) "Recorded as established in the wild from seed of cultivated plants at Otara Valley, Opotiki District".
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Oregon)	introduced	Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Washington)	introduced	Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	native	Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. (2011) "Maclura pomifera is native to southwestern Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma, and Texas; it is introduced and naturalized elsewhere in the United States. Collections in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington appear to represent isolated escapes".
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. (2011)

Additional information:
Plants of Hawaii report.
Fact sheet from the USDA-NRCS.
Photos and additional information on Chileflora.
Information from the U.S. Forest Service Fire Effects Information System.
Information from Agriculture Handbook 654, "Silvics of North America, Vol. 2".

Additional online information about Maclura pomifera is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Maclura pomifera as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Maclura pomifera may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Belov, Michail. 2011. Chileflora (online resource).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1939. Voucher specimen #BISH446928(Hosaka, E.Y. 2493).

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2011. Flora of North America North of Mexico (online edition).

National Herbarium of New South Wales. 2011. PlantNet: New South Wales Flora online. The Plant Information Network System of the Botanic Gardens Trust Version 2.0. Online resource.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.