Maclura
/məˈklʊərə/noun
A genus of the family Moraceae, consisting of dioecious trees and shrubs having the male flowers in loose racemes or spikes, the female flowers in dense heads, and the fruit a fleshy syncarp; (also maclura) a plant of this genus, specifically (more fully Maclura thorn) the Osage orange, Maclura pomifera, a thorny tree native to Arkansas and Texas, in the 19th cent. much used for hedging in the United States.
- Originally the genus Maclura was restricted to the Osage orange, M. pomifera. Subsequently it has often been extended to include the genera Cudrania, Cardiogyne, and Plecospermum, and most species of the genus Chlorophora..
Origin
Early 19th century; earliest use found in Thomas Nuttall (1786–1859), botanist. From scientific Latin Maclura from the name of William Maclure, U.S. geologist + -a.