The Bois d'Arc is oftentimes referred to as Osage-orange, Bodark, Bowwood, Horse-apple.....
Years ago these trees were valued as wind breaks and natural impenetrable fences. Tough, durable, and most of them armed with 1" spines, these native trees were valued by the Osage Indians of the Ozark mountains and early settlers as well. Their success as natural fences and hedge-row windbreaks, aided in their widespread distribution and have been officially reported in Missouri, north to southern New England, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.
The extremely dense orange heart-wood and yellow sap-wood weighs 48 pounds per cubic foot, although not as heavy as wood from some red oak trees (59 pounds per cubic foot) it makes the finest fence posts and railroad cross ties. Some of the earliest streets of downtown Dallas, Texas were reinforced with "slow to rot" Bois d'Arc 4x4's, about eighteen inches long, placed side by side on end forming a piling of a sort, which to this day still plague city street crews' excavation work.
The bark was at one time used for tanning leather, and the orange inner bark and yellow roots were used in making a yellow dye. The Osage Indians favored the wood for it's strength and used it to fashion longbows and handles for war clubs and tomahawks. The name Ozark resulted from a corruption of the words Bois d'Ark: Steyermark's Taxonomic Classification book Flora of Missouri states, "This tree, called by the French Bois d'arc or bowwood, is the one responsible for the name Ozark applied to the Missouri and Arkansas hills, the land of the Bois d'Arc or bowwood." It seems that the early French explorers discovered the fierce and war-like nature of the Osage Indians and the use of their powerful weapons, thus remembering them in name."
Fran Bolton