714 ORYX OSAGE OKANGE and importance. From its strong position it ' has often been a place of refuge for the popes in troublous times. Tombs and relics discov- ered here make it certain that it was the site of an ancient Etruscan city, and^the present name is supposed to be a corruption of Urb& Vetus (old city), probably applied to the ruins after the real name had been lost. ORYX. See ANTELOPE. OSAGE. I. A central county of Missouri, bounded K by the Missouri river and N". W. by the Osage, and intersected by the Gasconade ; area, about 850 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 10,793, of whom 326 were colored. It has an uneven surface, and near the streams a fertile soil. The Missouri Pacific railroad passes through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 222,- 173 bushels of wheat, 426,563 of Indian corn, 97,320 of oats, 32,329 of potatoes, 100,018 Ibs. of butter, 23,422 of Wool, 119,617 of tobacco, and 2,324 tons of hay. There were 3,535 horses, 1,431 mules and asses, 3,962 milch cows, 5,726 other cattle, 12,144 sheep, and 22,532 swine. Capital, Linn. II. An E. central coun- ty of Kansas, watered by the Osage river and its branches ; area, 792 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 7, 648. It is traversed by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad. The surface is some- what diversified, and the soil productive. Tim- ber grows along the margin of the streams, and coal abounds. The chief productions in 1870 were 21,201 bushels of wheat, 221,880 of Indian corn, 30,740 of oats, 25,518 of potatoes, 99,398 Ibs. of butter, 30,900 of cheese, and 10,396 tons of hay. There were 2,782 horses, 3,339 milch cows, 6,838 other cattle, 2,875 sheep, and 14,033 swine. Capital, Burlingame. OSAGE ORANGE, the name in general use for a tree of the genus Madura, closely allied to the Osage Orange (Maclura aurantiaca). mulberry (morus) ; it is the M. aurantiaca. The tree having been first found in the coun- try of the Osage Indians, this fact and the ap- pearance of the fruit are recognized in the name. The French finding that the Indians made their bows of it, called it bois d j arc (bow wood), which, corrupted into lodock, is the common name in the southwest. It is Fruit cut to show the structure. also one of the several trees which are some- times called yellow wood. The tree is com- monly from 20 to 30 ft. high, but in the rich bottom lands of Texas and Arkansas it some- times reaches 60 ft. The leaves are lance- ovate, entire, and with the upper surface very smooth and shiny. The flowers are dioecious, the sterile in small racemes of about a dozen minute, four-parted flowers, the fertile in a dense spherical cluster about the size of a cherry; each flower consisting of an unequally four-parted calyx and a single pistil, the style to which is nearly an inch long ; these styles projecting all over the surface give the cluster the appearance of a globular mass of threads. As the fruit enlarges, the parts of the flowers of which it is composed become fleshy and blended in such a confused mass that it is diffi- cult to distinguish them. When ripe, the fruit is the size of an orange, irregularly spherical, and with the surface tessellated with small protuberances, becoming yellow when ripe, and when fully mature somewhat pulpy, sweet- ish, but acrid and inedible ; when cut open the mass shows the remains of the flowers radia- ting from the centre, and the seeds, which are about the size of orange seeds. The leaves and all parts of the tree have a milky juice, and this, together with its close relationship with the mulberry, early suggested the use of the foliage as food for silkworms. The re- ports of experiments with them are variable ; while some found the leaves a poor substitute for the mulberry, others assert that the worms fed upon them give a better silk. The wood is of a fine yellow color, close-grained, hard, strong, and elastic ; these qualities and its great durability make it one of the most valuable of our native woods. It is said by those who live
