Discussion of Plant

Leaf: Narrowly ovate and long pointed; not toothed and hairless. 6-13 cm in length and 4-7.5 cm wide. Shiny dark green above, paler beneath; turning yellow in the autumn.

Flower: Tiny, greenish and crowded in rounded clusters that are less than 2.5 cm in diameter. Male and female are on separate trees in the early spring.

Fruit: Heavy yellow-green ball that is hard and fleshy and contains many light brown nutlets. The fruit matures in the autumn and falls from the tree. The fruit is 9-13 cm in diameter.

Twig: Brown, stout, with a single spine and short spurs.

Bark: Thick and deeply furrowed into narrow forking ridges. Grey or brown with the bark of the inner roots being orange and separating into thin papery scales.

Form: This is a medium sized, spiny tree with a short often crooked trunk and a broad rounded or irregular crown of spreading branches.

Discussion of the Plant

These trees were used as fences on the plains before the invention of barbed wire. Early settlers used the roots to make yellow dye for cloth and the Native Americans used the wood to make bows. The fruit was eaten by livestock and the fruit was nick named the "Horse Apple"

Copyright

© Sue Grabowski, Gail Slowinski, Carl Schurz High School 2003

References

Coombes, Allen, J, Smithsonian Handbook of Trees, Dorling Kindersley, London, 2002.

Little, Elbert, L., Field Guide to Trees, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1980.

Symonds, George, W.D., The Tree Identification Book, Quill Publishing, New York, N.Y. 1958.