We made the joke today that someone trapped a demon inside it.Careful...thats the one the Headless Horseman is buried under
We also have hemlocks on the property and they aren’t supposed to be here eitherDang, make it easy on us with no leaves!
Honestly the shape reminds me of an Osage Orange, aka Bois d'arc or maybe what is called hedge, but I am not sure they grow in the Carolinas.
If it is, it will have a grapefruit size fruit with a weird texture. Growing up in SE PA/northern DE we called them monkey balls.
I don’t remember seeing any, we’re walking back that way tomorrow to cut cedars for fence posts I’ll check and seeWell let’s filter some things out, does it have big thorns?
No thorns, it’s neither hedge (osage orange) nor russian olive.I don’t remember seeing any, we’re walking back that way tomorrow to cut cedars for fence posts I’ll check and see
All the hedge I’ve ever worked with had big thorns, big enough that if you cut it up you have to carry the wood to the truck or trailer because the deadfall will pierce the tires. Otherwise it looks like hedge. Is there a version w/o thorns?That is an Osage orange! They do grow naturally in the northern piedmont, but they're not very common. It produces a big green fruit about the size of a grapefruit. It is edible, but it tastes pretty bad. The theory is that the tree's fruit was originally eaten by ice age megafauna, that are now extinct. Because those big animals aren't around anymore, the tree's seeds don't get spread very far. Sometimes old timers would plant them along property lines or use them for hedgerows because the wood is really tough. You don't have to worry about deer, cattle, pigs, etc tearing them up. They're sometimes planted in the midwest as wind break trees for the same reason.
Looking at the shape of that tree, I'd day that its pretty old, and that its had a hard life. Something probably fell on it at some point, and it looks like its been taken over by vines (probably wisteria) sometime in the past. Take few pictures of it this summer, when its got leaves on it, and I should be able to give you a better idea if its healthy or not. Judging by what I see in those photos, I don't see any signs of disease, but tree health in the winter can be hard to determine, especially from photos.
Osage orange trees make excellent wood. Its second only to yew to for making bows and arrows, and the native Americans often used it for that.
DO NOT burn the wood in your fireplace. It has about the same BTU's as diesel fuel, and can crack your chimney or set your house on fire.
Hope you don't mind the tree trivia. I'm a certified arborist, so I can get long winded when I'm talking about unusual trees.
Ah, that does seem to indicate you've got areas with a climate equal to a more northern latitude.We also have hemlocks on the property and they aren’t supposed to be here either
Make sure to check on the ground... They may fall off with the leaves.I don’t remember seeing any, we’re walking back that way tomorrow to cut cedars for fence posts I’ll check and see
You thinking of Honey Locust? Its got 2-3" spikes for "thorns"All the hedge I’ve ever worked with had big thorns,
Looks like a wisteria.
Honey locust is some scary stuff. Its thorns have their own thorns. Scariest looking tree in the woods.You thinking of Honey Locust? Its got 2-3" spikes for "thorns"