Help Identify This Object

[+res2100]

We were geocaching on the weekend, and we came across several strange objects along the side of the road that were about the size of a grapefruit, green, and, well, ressembled a brain. We tried smashing them, but they bounced across the road. We gathered them and took them home with us to use as halloween decorations. Here are some pics if anyone can identify what they are. Between the 3 of us, we had never seen these before in our life. We also showed them to several of our friends who also never seen them before. Best we can guess, it's either a brain or some kind of alien space pod that will give birth to some little green men soon.

 

 

[+Du's Crew]

Down here in the South, we call 'em 'Horse-apples'. I think they come from the Bodark (sp?) Tree. Try sleeping in a house with a tin roof during a thunderstorm and have them suckers fall out of the tree onto the roof. Sounds like WWIII !!!!!!!!

Edited November 2, 2004 by Du's Crew

["Paws"itraction]

They also look like they could be Ugli Fruit, which is a unique type of tangelo.

Edited November 2, 2004 by "Paws"itraction

[Huaso]

I am not an expert, but I have tried to find out what these are, too. The best I can come up with is the Hedge Apple or Osage Orange. Another link showing the fruit is here

 

Someone with better knowledge is likely to give a better identification, but I hope this helps.

Edited November 2, 2004 by Huaso

[+fly46]

Ignore all the fruit answers. The pods will hatch soon and world domination will begin.

[+Stunod]

I am not an expert, but I have tried to find out what these are, too. The best I can come up with is the Hedge Apple or Osage Orange. Another link showing the fruit is here

 

Someone with better knowledge is likely to give a better identification, but I hope this helps.

Yup, looks like an Osage Orange to me. We have them around here.

[+bigredmed]

I am not an expert, but I have tried to find out what these are, too. The best I can come up with is the Hedge Apple or Osage Orange. Another link showing the fruit is here

 

Someone with better knowledge is likely to give a better identification, but I hope this helps.

Yup. Them's Hedge Apples, AKA Osage Orange. They don't taste good, but they found a use in keeping bugs out of closets and drawers in the last century. Grew along fences and hedges (thus the name) to use to keep the farm house fresh.

[+carleenp]

They are alien pods used in a strange game where the aliens hide pods of alien treasures on various planets and then post the locations of them using some sort of inter-galactic communication system. Other aliens then go and find them. Since aliens are rather, well.... alien, I suggest that you be wary of the pods. Even though they might look like alien game pods, they could be something else, like an alien stink bomb. I suggest that you freak out and blow them up just to be sure they are not really some part of an evil alien plot.

Edited November 3, 2004 by carleenp

[+greende]

I am not an expert, but I have tried to find out what these are, too.  The best I can come up with is the Hedge Apple or Osage Orange. Another link showing the fruit is here

 

Someone with better knowledge is likely to give a better identification, but I hope this helps.

Yup. Them's Hedge Apples, AKA Osage Orange. They don't taste good, but they found a use in keeping bugs out of closets and drawers in the last century. Grew along fences and hedges (thus the name) to use to keep the farm house fresh.

Yep, Osage Orange. The wood from the tree is quite dense and was used for cuticle sticks etc.

[+Kitch]

I'd find a pile of these....and put a cache inside of one.....or make something that looks like one....

[+Monkeybrad]

Yep, Osage Orange, aka Hedge apples.

[+OurWoods]

These grew by the thousands in the outskirts of Baltimore, MD where I grew up. We always called them brain oranges. There were tons of these trees in our neighborhood. And the giant fruits are really a pain! As kids we would collect a bunch and line them all up across the road, so cars would have to run over them.. Heh heh! They really make a big mess when splattered everywhere... Those were the days....

 

[+pater47]

Horse Apple, aka Osage Orange, aka Ironwood, aka Bois D'Arc (Bo-Dock) which is French for Arc of the Bow. The wood is very good for laminating into bows. It also makes great hiking sticks, providing you have a sharp enough saw to cut it! The green fruits are supposedly edible, but I've never tried it. Horses and deer to seem to be fond of it though.

Edited November 2, 2004 by pater47

[+RichardMoore]

Yep, them be Osageorange (Maclura pomifera). They were grown in a row to act as a hedge, hence the name Hedge Apple, and the wood is among the best to use for bows. According to one book I have, "In the early 1800's, in Arkansas, the price of a good osage bow was a horse and a blanket."

A special note: The fruit is inedible. Even the juice may cause dermatitis.

[+zoltig]

The things you learn through caching.

A few years ago (ok many years ago) I was told to go out and split wood for the woodstove, to get ready for winter. Most of the wood was the typical pine variety and I had no problem splitting it. There was a section of yellow wood that was only about 6" dia., that I set on the block to split. The first swing I took, I thought I had hit a steel pipe, it was so hard. I never knew what the wood was (by the way, I never did split it) but I think after reading this thread and link, I may have found an answer.

[+SixDogTeam]

Don't touch them. forget all about them. your don't need to know about them.

[+Du's Crew]

Funny to see the actual name of the tree, and how I spelled it, based on phonics! Bodarck looked right to me!!!

[+2qwerqE]

One year, we rented a house in Texas, and those things were all over the backyard in the fall. Bagged em and put em at the curb, and the trash men said they wouldn't pick them up because they are too heavy. (put more than five or six in a bag and you will agree.) The trash guys said we had to take them to the dump ourselves. We thought, No way! and we dug a shallow pit in the backyard of that rental house and buried the suckers. The next year, there were about 100 of those trees trying to grow back there! OH NO! Imagine the horse apples in a few years!

 

So we just moved out

 

edit: typo

Edited November 2, 2004 by 2qwerqE

[+2qwerqE]

I'd find a pile of these....and put a cache inside of one.....or make something that looks like one....

 

Not such a hot idea. They are nasty when they get old and start to moulder and rot!

[+Ghostcat78]

Oh man!!!!, those are hedge apples from an osage orange tree, aka hedge apple tree, aka bois d'arc. They use those tree's for fence post's out in the plains because the wood is so hard it will make a chainsaw spark when you cut it. The wood is gorgeous though. That was the preferred wood the indians used to make bows out of. I cut them down regulary and make my own self-bows out of them. That was a lucky find.

[+DeskJocky]

Here in SW PA we call them "monkey balls". They are great for keeping spiders out of windows. Just put one of them in a corner and no spiders will hang out there. This is quite useful in basements.

[+NightPilot]

Actually, bois d'arc means wood of the bow, or bow wood. Bois is French for wood. The Indians used it for making bows because it's tough and flexible. It's called Osage Orange both because the fruit looks a little like a green orange and because the wood is a bright orange inside, although the color eventually darkens.

[+Torry]

We call 'em "Monkey Brains" about the only thing they're good for is throwing at trains.

[MMACH 5]

We call 'em "Monkey Brains" about the only thing they're good for is throwing at trains.

We've always called them horse-apples. This time of year, most of them have fallen off the trees and are making a pretty rank smell as they rot.

 

As kids, we used to roll them down hills and see if they made it across the busy street at the bottom. They do tend to bounce when they start picking up speed. We called it "Bowling for body work."

[+G O Casher]

Mom, is that you?

 

Good ebay item. Come up with a good story and start the bidding at $500.00

[+bitbrain]

I kicked one of these off a hill in Nashville on a caching excursion. It must have rolled 1500 feet. Down the hill. Into the road. Bounce off the curb. Bounce off cars. Oops... We passed it as we were driving out of the neighborhood.

 

So, the wood is good for making bows & hiking staffs. I may have a new project for the Memphis Monsoon Season.

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HORSE APPLES.

I do not know about humans but Our horses and cows munch on them.

 

They have feathers too!!

 

edit

Forgot to add there have been found caches made just like em.

SOMEWHERE?????

Edited November 3, 2004 by GEO*Trailblazer 1

[aliensrus]

They are ailen pods used in a strange game where the aliens hide pods of alien treasures on various planets and then post the locations of them using some sort of inter-galactic communication system. Other aliens then go and find them. Since aliens are rather, well.... alien, I suggest that you be wary of the pods. Even though they might look like alien game pods, they could be something else, like an alien stink bomb. I suggest that you freak out and blow them up just to be sure they are not really some part of an evil alien plot.

This is the first inelligent answer I have heard all day...

[+CYBret]

They're hedge apples here too. And as other have said, they're great for keeping the bugs out. We used to keep a few in the basement, garage and enclosed porch to keep the crickets out. Worked like a charm.

 

Bret

[+Snoogans]

There's lots of those near this cache of mine.

[+OzarksJim]

We have these things in the Missouri Ozarks too. I came across them while caching over the weekend. Didn't know what they were until now

[+Ed Rad]

We encountered those darn things on a recent geo trip thru Springfield, Decatur and Bloomington, Illinois. Hard is an undestatement. Just ask FallenFaery who was the unfortunate victim of one. I tossed one at a tree thinking it might just thud to the ground or break but it sounded like a rock hitting a brick wall and bounced picking up speed and hit her in the leg. OUCH!! I felt really bad. It was a nice bank shot but I couldn't have done that if I tried.

 

HMMM...Hollow one out and use it as cammo for a micro?

[+team kweb cakes]

I agree with DeskJockey. They're called Monkey Balls. My mom puts them all around the outside of her house. They keep spiders away. Seems to work as far as I can tell. She has much less spider action than I do!

[+Rhone]

This is an osage orange. Sometimes called horse apples. If you enter either into your web browser, you will probably end up with more information than you care to read.

[+drag-racer]

Never heard them called anything other than "Hedge Apples". I hate the stupid things....they are all over the back part of my yard right now. They sure play heck on lawnmowers too. Good thing about them is that they self destruct after a few months of laying on the ground.

Edited November 3, 2004 by drag-racer

[+mornin'glory]

when we were kids we use to line the softer horse apples on an electric fence. didn't do anything to them but we could then climb over the fence!

[+Sputnik 57]

Our horses and cows munch on them.

 

They have feathers too!!

Would those be horse feathers?

[+cscade]

Yep, Osage Oranges. The fruit is worthless but the wood is awesome. It's nasty on your tools, but hard as steel and beautiful when finished. I ran a 14" diameter Osage log through my sawmill once for lumber, Took practically half a day because I had to cut so slow.

 

I too used to line them up in the street for cars to hit when I was a kid. Sounds like a national passtime waiting to happen!

Edited November 4, 2004 by cscade

[Pipanella]

One year, we rented a house in Texas, and those things were all over the backyard in the fall. Bagged em and put em at the curb, and the trash men said they wouldn't pick them up because they are too heavy. (put more than five or six in a bag and you will agree.) The trash guys said we had to take them to the dump ourselves. We thought, No way! and we dug a shallow pit in the backyard of that rental house and buried the suckers. The next year, there were about 100 of those trees trying to grow back there! OH NO! Imagine the horse apples in a few years!

 

So we just moved out

 

edit: typo

[Phoenix2001]

They're the latest geocaching container. If you can find the cache page you will get the clues to the words to say to get the container to open so you can sign the log.

Edited November 5, 2004 by Phoenix2001

[+clearpath]

Yep, hedge apples from the Osage Orange hedge tree. Hedge trees were planted all over the Midwest in the early days to help control top soil erosion as cause by the wind. Many of these 'Hedge rows' are still intact even in the suburbs of major cities as the population base has expanded.

[+evergreenhiker!]

hmmm....never heard of those. Jus tlearned something new today. Yeah, I'd hate to be out hiking if those things start coming down. Helmets maybe should be added to the essentials list for hiking in those areas. :-)

[CacheNCarryMA]

Here in SW PA we call them "monkey balls".

[+clearpath]

Here in SW PA we call them "monkey balls".

More like King Kong's balls ... these things are large.

[+Fergus]

I work for a tree service and I know there fruits well. Those are the fruit of the osage orange tree. Be careful of the trees, they have lot sharp thornes.

[+Blaidd-Drwg]

They do make great shotgun targets. They look really spectacular when thrown in the air and hit squarely.

[+magking1971]

Sounds like fun, can anyone send me some seeds?

[+webscouter.]

Here in Missouri the Amish and Mennonite make knitting needles and croceut hooks from them. Once the dry out they are as hard as iron and after a little use they become as smooth as glass. Squirrels will eat all the fruit away in a couple of weeks. Also the male tree doesn't have thorns or fruit.

[mistaken4sisters]

we used them for baseballs in WV. They go pretty far when hit squarely, but watch out trying to catch them.

[+vree]

Also the male tree doesn't have thorns or fruit.

male trees? wow... learned something else on this thread.

after googling "tree sexes" i learned about dioecious plants... now to find out if my tree, george, is actually a georgette.

 

interesting thread! i had never heard of nor seen the osage tree fruit and now this!