Fuzzy green orange-like fruit???

Question

My mom said she found these growing on a tree somewhere in North Carolina. I haven't seen them, but she says the skin and size are like an orange or grapefruit, only they are green and have fuzz on them. She said someone told her that it was called and Oklahoma orange. Anybody ever heard of such a thing?

Answer 1

I believe your Mom found an Osage Orange.  I thought they grew more in the plains states but maybe someone planted some seeds in N. Carolina. Squirrel's love the seeds and humans can eat them too but they're a lot of work to get out from the husk and then clean off before you can eat them.

Answer 2

That is an "Osage Orange" tree, and it`s growth is common here in Kentucky. Locally it is called a "Hedge-Apple". Some people believe it`s fruits have an insecticidal quality, repelling insects and vermine. It`s wood was prized by the "Osage" indians for bow and arrow making, hence it`s name...... The following is copied and pasted for your information.

The Osage orange (sometimes hyphenated) or Osage apple or simply Osage (Maclura pomifera) is an ornamental plant in the mulberry family Moraceae. It is also locally known as mock orange, "wild orange", hedge-apple, horse-apple, hedge ball, bois d'arc, bodark (mainly in Oklahoma and Texas), bodart (in northwest Louisiana), bodock (mainly in Tennessee and Alabama), and bow wood. "Osage" derives from the Native American people inhabiting the valley of the river of the same name in Missouri. Slang terms for its inedible fruit include monkey brain, monkey ball, monkey orange, and brain fruit, due to its brain-like appearance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage-orang...