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The bois d’arc tree (often anglicized as “bodark”) is native to the region around the Red River Of The South. Its other names (osage orange, hedge apple, horse apple) come from its large, round fruit. These “multiple fruit” (similar to figs or pineapples) can be the size of a large orange, and have a bumpy yellow-green skin and a taste similar to cucumbers. The hedge apple name also comes from the fact bois d’arc trees often grow like large hedges, with short but wide twisting trunks and outstretched limbs. In Hempstead County, the township bordering Red River is named Bois d'Arc Township.

Bois d'Arc Tree by the Pioneer Cemetery sign

Illustration of Bois d'Arc trees, fruit, and leaves by local artist Ann Bittick

A larger, older specimen of Bois d'Arc sits in front of the Washington Jail Bed & Breakfast

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The bois d’arc is native to southwest Arkansas and was a new species when first cataloged by Peter Custis during the Red River Expedition of 1806. The tree is also known as Osage orange or horse apple. The wood is extremely hard, flexible, and resistant to decay. One hundred-year-old fence posts can still be found in excellent condition. These qualities made bois d’arc (French for “bow wood”) a superior trade item as bow wood for the Caddo and Osage.

Bois D’Arc Tree

A walking tour of selected trees located throughout the town of Washington.

Branches In Time 

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A native of upstate New York, Greg Butts moved to Arkansas in 1973. Starting during Governor Dale Bumpers' expansion of the state park system, Butts was park planner for six years, then the manager of planning and development for 11 years. In 1990, Butts was appointed Director of Arkansas State Parks by Parks and Tourism Director Richard Davies. Butts was responsible for directing the operation of 52 state parks, central office in Little Rock (including Administrative, Planning and Development, Program Services, Marketing and Revenue), and five regional offices. He oversaw the Outdoor Recreation Grants program, which provides technical assistance and grants to Arkansas communities, along with a $104 million annual budget. In 1996, he successfully helped campaign with Davies for the passage of Amendment 75 to the state constitution, which provided a portion of a 1/8 of a cent of Arkansas Sales Tax to help support Arkansas State Parks. The Arkansas State Parks system experienced the largest development period in its 78-year history under his directorship. He announced his retirement in December 2015; among the honors he received was this northern catalpa planted in the 1874 Courthouse yard in his honor.

Catalpa trees are well-known not only for their shade, but the long seed pods that drop to the ground. The leaves are home to “catalpa worms,” which are popular as bait for catfish. Catalpa trees typically grow in humid climates and in sandy soils, which is why they’ve taken well to the Hempstead County sandhills. The northern catalpa is native to the Midwestern stretch of the Mississippi River, and grows taller and straighter than the southern catalpa. Popular for their shade, they’ve been known to be planted elsewhere in the United States. Its soft wood is less prone to rot, making it popular for fence posts, furniture, and tonewood for musical instruments. This is a younger catalpa, planted in honor of retiring State Parks director Greg Butts in 2015; the other trees around the 1874 Courthouse are mature catalpas, at least a century old.

Greg Butts Northern Catalpa 

General Grandison Royston was one of the city fathers of Washington. General Royston was a general in the Mexican War, cousin of President Zachary Taylor, a plantation owner, a prominent lawyer, served as a delegate to the First Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1836, and served as president of the Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1874. He was a member of the Confederate House of Representatives during the Civil War.John Brooks built this residence (off of Water Street) in the 1840s for the Royston family. General Grandison Royston planted this Southern Magnolia tree in front of his new house. This magnolia is quite large in its own right and is at the front driveway entrance to the house (the drive circles around it).

This magnolia was planted around 1845, after John Brooks finished construction of the Royston Town House for Grandison Royston. It is not on the National Historic Register but it is associated with Grandison Royston in the same way as the magnolia at the Royston Law Office site, as Royston is said to have planted both.

Royston Town House Magnolia Tree

Boxelder maples, also simply called boxelders, typically aren’t very large trees but can grow tall in the right conditions. They can be found in dark, wet river bottoms throughout the United States and also in Canada, where it’s known as a Manitoba maple. Indigenous Americans did harvest its sap for syrup, but it is considered inferior to the widely-used sugar maple syrup or even black maple syrup. Boxelder wood has very little commercial value, but its drought and cold resistance made it a popular windbreak on the Great Plains. While not having the palmately lobed leaves typical of maples, it does produce samara-type seeds.

Boxelder maples are unique to other maples as their leaves don’t spread out from a point (like the Canadian maple leaf), but spread out along a centerline down the leaf, resembling poison ivy. Like other maples and ashes, it reproduces with seeds in the “helicopter” style fruit called samaras. The boxelders next to the Candle Shop are fully mature.

Boxelder Maple Tree

Native to the eastern half of the United States, the American Sycamore typically finds its home in creek bottoms and other floodplains. Known for its large leaves, wide branches, and thick trunks, the sycamore also typically sheds its rigid mottled bark as it grows and its limbs also break easily. Its harder wood makes for poor firewood, but the sycamore has been well harvested for butcher blocks and clothing buttons, the latter earning it the nickname "buttonwood." As it grows, its thick trunk is often hollow, and as gaps form in its limbs can often become home to birds and other animals.

A light yellow dye was made from the bark and a golden dye was made from the leaves. The sycamore is also known as the buttonwood because the wood is hard to split and it was once used to make buttons. The wood is used to make butcher blocks, pallets, crates, and stringed instruments.

Sycamore Tree

Red mulberry trees are native to the eastern United States, but the white mulberry comes from Asia, where the silkworm usually calls it home. This particular white mulberry is notable as most do not live longer than a typical human lifespan, although it is not producing leaves quite like it used to. White mulberries are also seen as an invasive species, noted for its quick spread and rapid pollen releases, but experts don’t believe that’s been a problem in Arkansas. Its pinkish-white berries are sweet but blander than red or black mulberries.Dr. Nathan D. Smith imported white mulberry trees to Hempstead County around 1836, with the goal of cultivating silkworms. By 1839, he was advertising in the Arkansas Gazette the sale of plantings for anyone interested, and by 1840 the editor of the Gazette was advertising himself as Dr. Smith’s business agent. In 1842, the New Orleans Bulletin wrote about Dr. Smith’s wife producing 500 skeins of silk “dyed with the Bois D’Arc” (typically orange), praising its fine and even texture.

The white mulberry was brought to America from China and Japan to be used in the silk industry. In the 1800s, Dr. Nathan D. Smith, a physician in Washington, Arkansas, was a part of the American silk industry. Dr. Smith raised silkworms on the leaves and gathered the silk they produced.

Dr. Nathan D. Smith White Mulberry Tree

John H. Smith came to Hempstead County in 1824 when he was seven years old. In 1831, Smith carried the mail 180 miles on horseback from Washington, Arkansas, to Natchitoches, Louisiana, a ten day round-trip he made twice each month. According to an interview he gave to the Southwest Press in 1883, he stopped one day on his route at a catalpa tree hedge growing along the Red River Of The South. He filled his pocket with the winged seed from this tree, and when he returned to Washington, he scattered them over the land around the 1836 Courthouse, introducing the species to the town. It's estimated this particular tree was planted around 1831.

In 1831, fourteen-year-old John H. Smith carried the mail 180 miles from Washington, Arkansas, to Natchitoches, Louisiana. On his route, he passed a catalpa tree growing along the Red River and one day he filled his pocket with the fluffy seed. The seeds were scattered in the old court house yard in Washington, introducing the southern catalpa in Hempstead County.

"Mail Carrier Smith" Southern Catalpa Tree

On January 31, 1971, Apollo 14 launched from Kennedy Space Center to be only the third mission to land on the moon, and the first since the Apollo 13 crisis. The Command Module was piloted in orbit by Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forestry Smokejumper, while Commander Alan Shepard, Jr., and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell traveled to the moon’s surface. Roosa’s module carried a collection of about 500 seeds from five different species of tree in an experiment to see what effect space travel would have on plant life. After the seedlings showed no difference next to their Earth-bound counterparts, they were distributed to congressional and U.S. Forestry officials to be planted across the country. Arkansas received four, and only two remain: the one by the 1836 Courthouse, and another loblolly pine outside the Sebastian County Courthouse in Fort Smith. Both trees were planted on March 15, 1976. They are part of a group of around eighty "Moon Trees" still in existence today.Besides the two trees, Apollo 14 had another Arkansas connection: Shepard, the first American in space and the only Mercury Seven astronaut to make a lunar landing, famously used a six-iron head attached to an excavation tool to hit two golf balls on the moon. The balls were made by a company owned by Rogers-based Daisy Air Rifles.

This loblolly pine tree orbited the moon aboard Apollo 14 as a seedling in 1971, and was planted next to the 1836 Courthouse in 1976. Part of an experiment to see how space travel effected plant life, it is one of eighty such "moon trees" still standing today, and one of two in the state of Arkansas.

Moon Tree (1976)

During Richard Davies’ 43-year career with the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, he served as state parks director for 14 years, and as executive director for 25 years, sitting on the cabinet of five Arkansas governors. As executive director, Davies was not only responsible for Arkansas State Parks, but also the state’s Tourism Division, the state archives at the History Commission, and the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission. Davies was instrumental in the passage of Amendment 75 to the Arkansas Constitution in 1996 (the “1/8th Cent Conservation Amendment”), which provides funding for state parks, the Arkansas Heritage Commission, Keep Arkansas Beautiful, and Arkansas Game And Fish.Davies also served with various Arkansas organizations, including the Natural Resource Committee, the Natural and Cultural Resources Council, the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission, the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission and the Ozark Folk Cultural Commission. He was appointed vice-chair of the National Recreation Lakes Study Commission by President Bill Clinton in 1998, developing future plans for federal reservoirs.Davies was named State Parks Director of the Year by the National Association of State Parks Directors. The Arkansas Broadcasters Association named Davies “Arkansan of the Year” in 2004. He was inducted into the Tourism Hall of Fame, the Arkansas Hospitality Association Hall of Fame, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation Hall of Fame. In 2008 he was inducted into the Hall of Honor by the Lemke Journalism Alumni Society at the University of Arkansas.Davies was an Army Reservist, retiring a lieutenant colonel after 27 years of service in 1999. He graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas in 1972, and was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters upon his retirement. His wife, Betsy, is also an Arkansas alum; they have two daughters and two granddaughters.

The northern catalpa grows straighter and its limbs do not branch out as much as the southern catalpa. The northern and southern catalpa are both grown for shade, and as an ornamental. The northern catalpa is native to the midwestern stretch of the Mississippi River, while the southern catalpa stretches from the Mississippi Delta across the Deep South. The northern catalpa grows straighter with tighter limbs than its southern cousin. This is a younger catalpa, planted in honor of retiring Arkansas Department of Parks &amp; Tourism director Richard Davies in 2015.

Richard Davies Northern Catalpa

The crape myrtle, also spelt crepe or crêpe, gets its name from its long-lasting flowers which resemble crêpe paper. There's actually over fifty different varieties of crape myrtles, and the usually-shorter crape myrtle is popular as shrubbery, particularly as screens or borders. Their flowers bloom throughout the summer in a wide range of colors from deep purple to white. In the fall their small green oval-shaped leaves turn a brilliant red, orange, and yellow. Crape myrtles do best in warmer climates such as the American South, but they do need constant exposure to the sun to grow and bloom properly.

Crape myrtles are trees native to Asia imported at the turn of the 19th Century. Crape myrtles are popular for their large colorful flowers, rich fall foliage, and the mottled look of its exfoliating bark. They are well suited for southern climates of the United States, even in drier weather.

Crape Myrtle

The Historic Washington Magnolia was recognized as the state champion from 1983-1996 and remains a landmark. Over the years, this magnolia has also been referred to as the "Royston Magnolia," "Crockett/Bowie Magnolia," and the "Jones Magnolia." The Jones naming came from James K. Jones who later lived on the land the tree was planted on: Jones later became a U.S. Senator for Arkansas. By the 1930s, the story of James Black led many to Washington, and the tree served as a marker for directing people to the street the original shop was located near. Black also lived next door to the tree himself during his time under Dr. Isaac Newton Jones's guardianship following the loss of his sight.

Planted in 1839 near the original location of Grandison Royston's law office, and currently shading the Royston Log Home which was relocated from his plantation, this southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) is the tallest in the state of Arkansas. As a tree on park land, it is always accessible to visitors.

Washington Magnolia Tree (1839)

Sweetgum trees grow across the United States, and can take to poorer soils better than other plants. Not an attractive wood, sweetgum is usually harvested for practical uses like shipping pallets. Sweetgum sap is a light amber and being sweet and thick, which lead to sweetgum resin already being chewed on before its use in chewing gum. Male flowers grow along a stalk into small red-and-green round clusters on the top of the branch, while single round female flowers hang from below. Once pollinated, the female flowers grow into sweetgum balls, the small fruit resembling spiked green balls. Sweetgum balls are notable for not biodegrading quickly, leaving brown dried-out seed pods.

Sweetgum trees are easily recognized by their round spiky fruit that drop then dry out in autumn, and the star-shaped leaves that turn a variety of sharp colors in the fall. Sweetgum resin has been used for several purposes including chewing gum, which is where the tree gets its name.

Sweetgum Tree

Like other yellow pines, the shortleaf pine grows across the southeastern United States. The red-cockaded woodpecker often bores holes in living shortleaf pines, feeding on insects in the bark and laying eggs in the cavities, which can also become home to other small birds and mammals. The seeds of shortleaf pines are also eaten by squirrels and other small birds. As the name suggests, the shortleaf pine has shorter needles in bundles of two, compared to the loblolly pine's longer bundles of three. The shortleaf also has smaller cones, usually less than half the size of a loblolly pine cone.

Similar to the loblolly pine, the shortleaf pine is easily distinguished by having only two needles per bundle and smaller pine cones on a short stock. Its slower growth as a young tree makes it less likely to be grown on tree plantations, but is harvested in old growth forests.

Shortleaf pine

Resembling more of a tall shrub, the Hercules club (or prickly ash) is often confused by name with the Devil’s Walking Stick, although the Hercules club has distinct large bumps on its twisting trunk compared to the broken ridges and large leaf scars on the more vertical Walking Stick, and spread-out branches compared to the walking stick's umbrella shape. The other names for the Hercules club are “toothache tree” and “tingle tongue,” as chewing on a twig or piece of bark would cause the gums and tongue to go numb, which made it a popular toothache medicine for Indigenous Americans and later pioneer settlers.

The bark of the Hercules club was chewed as a home remedy for toothaches. Its name comes from the distinctive bumps on the trunk.

Hercules Club

The Devil’s Walking Stick is also known as an Angelica tree, but is also sometimes mistakenly called a prickly ash or Hercules club, although the Devil's Walking Stick is a distinctly different species with smaller leaves and without the distinctive bumps on the trunk. It typically grows as a set of vertical branchless trunks with broad leaves, often resembling a umbrella, and while not usually tall can grow twice as high in southern climates than in northern ones. The trunk of a Devil's Walking Stick, covered in leaf scars and broken ridges, turns from light to dark brown over time.

The roots and fruit of the Devil’s walking stick were used by the early settlers as a home remedy to improve blood circulation. Today we know that eating any part of the tree may be hazardous to your health! It usually grows as a straight, branchless trunk with a broad crown of leaves like a palm.

Devil’s Walking Stick

This tree could date back to the time of the building of Abraham Block's house (customary in the town), or could predate the house itself. Block received word from his cousin Eliezer in St. Louis about the booming trade with Mexico along the Southwest Trail, with Washington being the last major stop before entering the Mexican-controlled territory of Texas. After establishing his business in Southwest Arkansas, Block's family joined him in Washington in 1828, and they are believed to be the first permanent Jewish settlers in Arkansas. This Federal-style building is one of the oldest in the state of Arkansas, with construction started in 1823. The tree itself is a former grand champion, surpassed by another in Cotton Plant, Arkansas.

The pecan tree is possibly the most economically important food crop native to North America. Pecans, with protein and a high fat content, were a major food source for Native Americans. Today, pecans continue to be prized. The wood is almost twice as strong as oak, and is used in furniture, doors, cabinets, and flooring for gymnasiums and roller skating rinks.

Abraham Block Pecan Tree

Native to the eastern United States, the common persimmon is well known for its small fruit which it produces in the fall. Due to its relative slow growth, the bark of the persimmon tree is thick and scaly, usually dark brown or gray in color. The wood of the persimmon tree is very hard and dark, as well as termite resistant; however, because it takes almost a century of growth for its wood to be commercially viable, it’s not widely harvested. The wood is also a traditional treatment for toothaches, a remedy some modern herbalists still use to this day.

Persimmons can be eaten fresh and in puddings, cakes, pies, and beverages. During the Civil War southerners, unable to get coffee, roasted persimmon seeds to make a substitute drink. The wood is hard and has been used for toothaches. The hard wood is also used for pool cues, heads of golf clubs, and shuttles for weaving.

Common Persimmon Tree

The bitter crabapple fruit, which usually comes in September, is often eaten by deer, raccoons, and squirrels. In the spring the crabapple tree blooms in small but abundant flowers that are white with a pink tinge, which makes it very attractive to birds that also eat the fruit and nest in its branches. A crabapple tree's trunk is usually short and twisted, with its branches spreading out into a wide crown. Although usually planted as an ornamental, the fruit can also be made into jelly and cider, but its usually not eaten raw by humans due to its bitter taste.

Crabapples trees are smaller trees with smaller fruit than the usual apple tree. Typically found around the great lakes, it can be found in other regions like the south. The bark is gray and fissured as it grows, and its wood is useful for handles and other small household items.

Wild Sweet Crabapple

This fine example of a Black walnut is affectionately called the Black-Bowie Black Walnut Tree due to its proximity to the reconstructed Blacksmith Shop and because of James Black's use of walnut in the coffin-shaped handle of his knives. Black walnuts were used for many purposes including making a dye for fabric and yarn. During the Civil War, uniforms were dyed with Black walnuts. Black Walnut trees are common in the area of Washington. It can also be found across the eastern half of the United States and Canada. Black Walnut wood is used in rifle stocks, knife handles, and furniture.The wood is hard, shock resistant, and straight grained. These qualities make the wood sought after for sporting rifles and expensive shotguns.

The James Black—Jim Bowie Black Walnut tree is located near the current Blacksmith Shop on the northeast side of the 1914 Schoolhouse.James Black primarily used Black walnut in the coffin-shaped handles of his knives. Since the tree is a Black Walnut and it is located near the reconstructed Blacksmith Shop, it was named in honor of James Black and Jim Bowie.

Branches In Time

Bois D’Arc Tree

Introduction

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Backstory and Context

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