Today is our meet and greet Class #1
Always a few surprises thrown in. We had an excellent turn out. Most managed to arrive before the alotted time and Alan, even with his digressions managed to get through the class with time to spare. Realizing when it was time to give the test that he was running behind he moved up his timeline.



Alan had many interesting things to tell the class and brought in a green fruit to examine. After the class had a good look at it and Alan made mention of a few other things we went back to this interesting green ball that looked like a nut wrapped in flesh about the size of an orange. Alan informed the class this was a fruit from the osage orange "maclura pomifera" which has an existing hedge growing locally and is considered a heritage plant. Although it is large the fruit is harsh, dry, hard and astringent(sap similar to milkweed), juice extract is toxic and is inedible to humans. The existing hedge is slowly disappearing due to the nature of its seeding. During research of this plant investigation has led to the possibility that dispersal of seeds occurred by animals now extinct.
These hedges were widely planted until the barbed wire fence became more cost effective. Part of the allure of this plant as a hedge was it's alternating ovate-lanceolate leaves, on zigzagging twigs.

More info on this plant.....
Also known as hedge-apple, bois d'arc, or 'tennis ball tree' (Maclura pomifera) is a member of the fig-mulberry family (Moraceae). Osage orange was native to Texas and Oklahoma, approximately the home territory of the Osage people. Today it has now been widely planted far outside its natural range. The female tree can look somewhat like an orange tree with its orange-sized fruits.

Specimens in the states are very colourful , specimens in Ontario are not. Osage orange is dioecious, as mulberries are. Male trees have racemes of staminate blooms. Female trees have pistillate blooms in little radial buttonballs. The buttonballs grow into greenish apple-sized compound fruits of 6 to 8 centimetres width. The heavy fruits fall suddenly within a day, or so, in the autumn. The sap consists of latex, common in figs and mulberries. The bark is rough, reddish and convoluted. These apple like spreading trees can grow to 18 metres tall.

Osage orange's large fruit is one of its most curious features. The seeds are often able to germinate even without pollination. Nevertheless, root suckering is the more common means of natural propagation. The large fruit is not eaten by many animals.
The fruit was so heavy aboriginal Indians in eastern Oklahoma turned them into war clubs.

In the nineteenth century the shrubby trees,'hedge-apple', which grew long, wicked thorns were planted by settlers as a natural fence for early prairie settlers, they were used to keep animals in and nasty neighbours out. When real barbwire was invented this tradition was discontinued. Still, Osage orange persists semi-wild even in southern Ontario. The heavy compound fruits can dent cars, or hurt heads, when they fall. The 'oranges' take a long time to rot away. Osage orange is more of a curio than an ornamental.

M. pomifera is used today by wood craftsmen to make furniture and archery bows. The plant contains a chemical(2,3,4,5-tetrahydroxystilbene)that repels cockroaches, spiders, fleas and ants.

High Temperature:
Actual: -15°C feels -19 partly sunny Wind NNW19km/h P.O.P.20%
Average: -1°C
Record: 12°C in 2008

Low Temperature:
Actual: -21°C feels -23 partly cloudy Wind WNW16km/h P.O.P.0%
Average: -10°C
Record: -27°C in 1943