A post about a peculiar green, bumpy ball spotted on a trail by a hiker has gone viral on Reddit.
An image of the bizarre finding was shared in a post by u/Bruh61502, which has amassed over 17,000 upvotes since it was uploaded onto the r/whatisit subreddit on April 22.
The post was titled: “I found this thing walking along a trail. WTF [what the f***] is this?? I was scared to touch it.” The image shows a lime-colored, brain-like object nestled among leaves.
Food scientist Bryan Quoc Le is the author of 150 Food Science Questions Answered: Cook Smarter, Cook Better and founder of Mendocino Food Consulting. He told Newsweek that the mystery object in the Reddit post is the fruit of the Osage orange tree.
The Osage orange, whose scientific name is Maclura pomifera, is a deciduous tree native to the southern United States. Though not typically consumed due to its bitter taste and tough texture, the tree’s fruit, bark and wood have long intrigued scientists and naturalists alike.
The food scientist said the Osage orange “is commonly found natively in Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas. But they are grown all throughout the contiguous United States as part of decorative hedges and landscape design.”
Le added that it is not unusual to find the fruit in an open area along a trail. “They often grow at the edge of woods and rivers, so it would make sense for the tree to be found by a cleared trail, where there would be plenty of sun to grow,” he said.
“It’s possible that an animal may have tried to eat it and carried it further into an open clearing on the trail, away from the mother tree,” Le added, noting that “while technically edible, the fruit is very bitter, and few animals consume it.”
The tree is notable not just for its unusual fruit but also for its resilience. “These are hardy plants that can withstand very serious drought conditions, icy weather, and windstorms,” the food scientist said. “The wood is termite-resistant and decay-resistant. Many compounds are found in the bark, wood, and fruit, some of which can be used as antifungal agents or as a food preservative.”
Historically, the Osage orange tree played a practical role in American agriculture. “The trees were historically used as hedges on the American prairies,” Le added.
Despite their unappetizing taste and tough texture, Osage orange fruits may still offer surprising benefits.
A September 2024 study published in Fitoterapia found that extracts from the fruit “exhibit a range of useful properties to combat human pathologies” and “contain potent antioxidant compounds.”
The study suggests that these extracts have pharmacological potential in both human and veterinary medicine.
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.
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