Hedge apples, the bumpy green fruit of the Osage orange tree, are not considered poisonous to people, dogs, or cats.1FOX 2 St. Louis. Are Hedge Apples Poisonous to People and Pets?2FOX 2 St. Louis. Are hedge apples really effective when it comes to keeping bugs away? The flesh tastes bad and is tough, so most people and pets leave them alone.3FOX 2 St. Louis. Are Hedge Apples Poisonous to People and Pets? The real danger comes from the fruit’s size and shape rather than any poison, and it falls mostly on large grazing animals.
What Happens If a Person Eats a Hedge Apple
Hedge apples grow on the Osage orange, a thorny tree common along old fencerows in the central US. They drop in mid to late autumn.4Kentucky Equine Research. Hedge Apples and Horses Extension and news sources describe the fruit as not toxic if eaten by accident.5FOX 2 St. Louis. Are Hedge Apples Poisonous to People and Pets? It is still unpleasant in both taste and texture, which keeps most people from eating more than a bite.6FOX 2 St. Louis. Are Hedge Apples Poisonous to People and Pets?
Some nature centers call the fruit “toxic” because of its sticky sap, but tests for actual poisoning, done mainly in livestock, have come back negative.7Preservation Parks of Delaware County. Hedge Apples8Yard and Garden. All About Hedge Apples Writers who use “toxic” usually mean that the sap irritates and the fruit is inedible, not that it causes illness when eaten.
So the realistic outcome of a bite is an unpleasant mouthful and perhaps a mild stomach upset. The flesh is dry, rubbery, and bitter, and the sap leaves a sticky coating in the mouth, so a child who bites it will usually spit it out and complain. The sap can leave the lips and the skin around the mouth red or irritated. That can look alarming, but it comes from contact, not poisoning.
If a toddler has gnawed on a fallen fruit, wipe out the mouth and rinse the lips and hands with water to remove the sticky sap. Check whether a piece is still in the mouth, and look for coughing or gagging, since a lodged chunk is a bigger worry than any chemical effect. Offer water and watch the child for the next few hours for vomiting or belly pain. Call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 in the US if symptoms appear or you are unsure how much was swallowed.
Don’t confuse the hedge apple with a truly poisonous apple-like fruit. The manchineel, a tropical beach tree, bears one, and it is unrelated to the hedge apple. In a series of 97 manchineel ingestions reported to French poison centers, 97% of people had symptoms such as mouth pain, belly pain, and diarrhea.9PubMed Central. Poison Apple-like Fruit Ingestion: A Case Report and Review of Manchineel Fruit Toxicity If you read alarming “poison apple” reports online, check that they concern manchineel, not Osage orange.
Are Hedge Apples Safe for Dogs and Cats
Hedge apples are not poisonous to dogs.10FOX 2 St. Louis. Are hedge apples really effective when it comes to keeping bugs away? Most animals find the fruit unappealing, and adult dogs usually sniff it and walk away, which is why vets rarely see problems from it.11FOX 2 St. Louis. Are hedge apples really effective when it comes to keeping bugs away?12Yard and Garden. All About Hedge Apples Dogs that play with the fruit like a ball are mostly handling it, not eating it, though they can pick up sticky sap on the mouth and paws. Cats tend to ignore it entirely.13HedgeappleFruit.com. FAQ about Hedgeapples A dog that eats a lot of the flesh could get vomiting or diarrhea.
The physical risk matters more for big chewers. A hedge apple is often larger than a softball and very firm.14Kentucky Equine Research. Hedge Apples and Horses A dog that bites off a hard chunk could choke or get a gut blockage, as can happen with any hard object. Supervise young dogs and strong chewers during the autumn fruit drop, and rake up fallen fruit where a dog plays fetch or chews things.
Repeated vomiting, or refusing food for more than a day, suggests irritation or a blockage, so call the vet. Straining, a swollen belly, or lethargy can mean a chunk is stuck. Pawing at the mouth or drooling may just be sap irritation, so rinse with water first. When you call, give an estimate of how much was eaten.
Skin Irritation From the Milky Sap
When cut or broken, the fruit and stems ooze a sticky, milky latex sap, similar to that of milkweed.15Preservation Parks of Delaware County. Hedge Apples This sap can irritate skin on contact.16Nebraska Invasive Species Program. Maclura pomifera17Yard and Garden. All About Hedge Apples An intact hedge apple can be picked up briefly with little sap contact. Fruit split by a mower or rotting exposes much more, and kids playing with smashed fruit get the most exposure. Wear gloves when cutting, collecting many fruit, or cleaning up broken ones, and wash skin with soap and water if sap gets on it.
Expect redness, itching, or a mild rash on the spot where the sap touched, usually showing up within hours to a day or so. People with a latex allergy may react more strongly, so they should avoid handling the fruit with bare hands. The sap is sticky and water alone beads off it. Rubbing a little cooking oil on it before washing with soap helps lift it. See a doctor if the rash spreads, blisters, or does not fade in a few days.
Why Hedge Apples Can Kill Cattle and Horses
Studies in several states found no poisoning of livestock from hedge apples.18Yard and Garden. All About Hedge Apples The danger is choking. Grazing animals are curious and pick up fruit with their mouths, and a round, firm fruit about the size of a softball can slip into the throat but fail to go down. Cattle are most at risk since they tend to gulp what they pick up rather than chew it first, and a fruit lodged in the throat can press on the windpipe and suffocate them.19Kentucky Equine Research. Hedge Apples and Horses
A stuck fruit can also block the release of gas from a cow’s stomach, which can also be fatal, even if the animal can still breathe.20Yard and Garden. All About Hedge Apples A horse that gulps a hedge apple whole faces the same risk.21Kentucky Equine Research. Hedge Apples and Horses
In one reported case, a vet passed a tube and freed a hunk of hedge apple partly blocking a cow’s airway, releasing a large rush of gas.22Cattle Today. Hedge Apples In another, a vet spent over an hour unable to push down or pull out a lodged fruit, and the cow died.23Cattle Today. Hedge Apples
Drooling, repeated swallowing, coughing, or stretching the neck out can mean something is stuck in the throat. In cattle, a swelling on the left side of the belly signals trapped gas, called bloat, and is an emergency. Call a vet immediately, because delay can be fatal. Don’t reach far into the throat yourself; you may push the fruit deeper or be injured by a panicking animal.
Clear fallen fruit from pastures and, where possible, remove fruiting trees along fencelines.24Kentucky Equine Research. Hedge Apples and Horses Only female trees bear fruit, so male trees can stay. Otherwise fence off the drop zone in autumn, and pick up fruit after windy days in September and October.
Watch Out for the Thorns
No part of the Osage orange, including its thorns, is known to be poisonous.25Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Osage orange thorn in foot in Redford MO Thorn wounds can still become infected.26Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Osage orange thorn in foot in Redford MO The thorns are long, stiff, and sharp, so they make deep punctures that can carry dirt into the tissue. The tips are brittle and can stay embedded after the thorn is pulled out, which keeps the wound irritated and raises the chance of infection.27Missouri Department of Conservation. Osage Orange Control
Sprouts from cut stumps are especially thorny and hazardous.28Missouri Department of Conservation. Osage Orange Control Protect eyes, hands, arms, knees, and feet when cutting or clearing the tree.29Missouri Department of Conservation. Osage Orange Control Thick gloves, long sleeves, sturdy boots, and eye protection all make sense.
If you get a puncture, clean the wound well with soap and water, then look closely for a broken tip left in the skin. Watch for redness, warmth, or pus over the next few days. See a doctor for deep punctures or if your tetanus shot isn’t current.
Can Any Part of a Hedge Apple Be Eaten
The flesh should be avoided, but the seeds are edible raw or roasted.30Specialty Produce. Osage Oranges31Eat The Weeds and other things, too. Osage Orange – Eat The Weeds and other things, too One fruit holds 200 to 300 seeds.32Specialty Produce. Osage Oranges Getting them out is the hard part, because they are surrounded by pulp. Foragers soak and mash the fruit in water until soft, then sift out the seeds.33Specialty Produce. Osage Oranges Ripe seeds sink while empty seeds and pulp float, so stirring the mash and pouring off the floating material, then repeating, leaves clean seeds on the bottom.34Specialty Produce. Osage Oranges
The cleaned seeds are dried and roasted in oil and salt, tasting like a cross of sunflower seeds and popcorn.35Specialty Produce. Osage Oranges Spread them to dry fully before roasting so they crisp rather than steam. Wear gloves throughout, because mashing releases lots of sap, and rinse the seeds thoroughly to remove sap residue. Try a small amount first, especially if you have latex sensitivity.
For most people the effort isn’t worth it. Each seed is small, so you need many fruits to get a handful of food.
Wildlife eats them too. Squirrels tear fruits apart for the seeds, quail pick at the leftovers, and deer occasionally eat the fruit.36Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. The Osage Orange
Do Hedge Apples Really Keep Bugs Away
An oil compound extracted from the fruit repelled mosquitoes about as well as DEET in lab tests.37In. A.M. Rimmando and S.O. Duke eds. Natural Products for Pest Management. ACS Symposium Series #927. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. 169-181. Natural insect repellents: activitity against mosquitoes and cockroaches Extracts and some of the fruit’s compounds also repelled cockroaches in lab tests.38Journal of Essential Oil Research. Identification of components of Osage orange fruit (Maclura pomifera) and their repellency to German cockroaches Those tests used extracts and isolated compounds, not a whole fruit sitting on a shelf.
A whole fruit releases only small amounts of scent from its surface, and a room is large and has air moving through it, so whatever the fruit gives off is quickly diluted. Spiders were not the subject of the lab tests described here, so the claim for them is unsupported. Don’t count on a hedge apple to clear spiders or insects from a room. If you want fewer bugs, sealing gaps and cutting clutter does more.
If you use them anyway, place the fruit on a dish, since a rotting fruit leaks sap that can stain floors and shelves. Keep them out of reach of toddlers and chewing pets. Toss them once they soften and mold, usually within a few weeks, and wear gloves if the fruit has split.