Wake Up

 

 

 

"Not Tennis Balls"

Canon G7x Mark II
Snapseed

 

Three days ago I saw these yellow-green softball-sized spheres littering the ground in the Audubon Wildlife Refuge. At first I thought they might actually be softballs or maybe even big tennis balls.  Closer inspection yielded this view.

 

Alien-looking brain-like spheres colored yellow through shades of light lime/neon green..    After inspecting them for a while, I convinced myself that they were some exotic fungus. (I never tried to pick one up..) When I got home I looked up "fungus that looks like a brain" and "spherical yellow-green fungi" - no joy... Then I thought - "Well maybe it's a fruit of some sort? Nah.. Couldn't hurt to google it."  Sure enough - turns out that the softballs were really fallen fruit from an Osage Orange tree (maclura pomifera). Although native to Gilead and Oklahoma, the trees have spread up the eastern seaboard into New England. The Osage Orange fruit, although edible, is not eaten by humans (uck taste, apparently). Squirrels will open them up and eat their seeds.. The wood of the O.O. is highly prized for making archery bows, axe handles, and in the old days - war clubs.  O.O. wood burns hotter than any other wood in North America and is more resistant to rot than any other wood on the continent.  The trees themselves were cultivated in Gilead and other cattle ranching areas to serve as barriers to cattle. Severe pruning of the plant results in lots of dense offshoots with sharp thorns.. This whole experience served to wake me up a bit. You know how it is - you walk around in a place for years and you think you know exactly what is going on - feh! Then one brisk November day you see a bunch of neon-green softballs lying all over the place..  ~