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Strange Orange. Anyone Know About It?


peanutbutter

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What a weird looking fruit.

 

Limonene is a dominant terpene in citrus

It has been used as an insecticide for decades.

 

d-Limonene: This is used for the control of fleas on cats and for other insect pests. Adult fleas and eggs appear to be most sensitive to d-limonene, which is more effective if combined with piperonyl butoxide. At recommended dosages, the solution containing d-limonene appears to be safe, but increasing the concentration 5-10 fold in sprays or dips increases the severity of toxic signs, which include salivation, muscle tremors, ataxia, and hypothermia. The inclusion of piperonyl butoxide in the formulation potentiates the toxicity in cats. Allergies have also been reported in people in contact with d-limonene, and it appears to increase dermal absorption of some chemicals. When orally administered to dogs, d-limonene causes vomiting (median effective dose 1.6 mL/kg).

 

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/211604.htm

 

Limonene is also found in some varieties of cannabis.

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Heres a limonene based insecticide:

 

Made with the all-natural ingredient d'Limonene, d'Limonene Bug Killer is a non-toxic insecticide that can be safely used around children as well as in food processing areas. From schools and daycare centers to restaurant kitchens, and food processing plants, d'Limonene Bug Killer safely wipes out unwanted insects without posing a threat to children or food. The ingredient d'Limonene instantly strips away a protective wax coating from the exoskeletons of insects which causes them to suffocate and die on contact. And yet, d'Limonene Bug Killer will not harm people, pets or food.

 

http://www.greenchem.com/607dlimbugki.html

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I'm very, suddenly, very interested about this "wax coating" insects have.

 

Is that "wax" toxic? I think so.

 

What kind of effects would someone have after ingesting this "wax?"

 

I think that for some insects it serves both as a desiccant preventative and a defense against predation.

 

It would make complete sense that concentrated amounts of it could cause an adverse reaction.

 

http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/lipids/waxes/index.htm

 

" Insect waxes. The surface of insects is covered by a layer of wax that, amongst other functions, serves to restrict movement of water across the cuticle and prevent desiccation. The nature of this lipid is dependent on species, but in general a high proportion tends to be saturated alkanes (C 23 to C 31 ) often with one or two methyl branches. In addition, wax esters, sterol esters, and free fatty alcohols and acids may be present. Some species of insect secrete triacylglycerols in their waxes together with free sterols and other terpenoid components. The composition of beeswax is discussed above."

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This is an osage orange, I forget the other names it goes by. I don't think it is citrus, the orange in the name came from the color. I've got my eye on a fully-loaded, public access tree of osage orange, I try to gather this every fall to help repell the spiders. I see far fewer spiders and bugs the years I put a few of these in a bowl in various downstairs rooms. I don't know about mites, but it does seem that bugs do not like the smell of this fruit.

 

Maybe this is also called a quince?

 

Liz

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This is an osage orange, I forget the other names it goes by. I don't think it is citrus, the orange in the name came from the color. I've got my eye on a fully-loaded, public access tree of osage orange, I try to gather this every fall to help repell the spiders. I see far fewer spiders and bugs the years I put a few of these in a bowl in various downstairs rooms. I don't know about mites, but it does seem that bugs do not like the smell of this fruit.

 

Maybe this is also called a quince?

 

Liz

 

I think you are correct that it is not a citrus fruit.

 

It does, however, contain caryophyllene, a terpene. Eugenol as well.

 

" Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid; osage orange; essential oil; glycosidically bound volatiles; GC–MS

 

 

Igor Jerkovic Josip Mastelic Zvonimir Marijanovic All Authors

 

 

 

Issue

 

Flavour and Fragrance Journal Volume 22, Issue 1, pages 84–88, January/February 2007

 

 

 

ARTICLE TOOLS Get PDF (103K) Save to My Profile E-mail Link to this Article Export Citation for this Article Get Citation Alerts Requ

 

Abstract The bound and free volatile compounds from Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid. (osage orange fruit) have been studied by GC and GC–MS. The free volatiles amounted to 230 mg/kg and the content of bound volatiles was 10 mg/kg. Identified compounds consist of aliphatic constituents (free, 28.3%; bound, 27.6%), phenylpropane derivatives along with related compounds (free, 5.1%; bound, 36.0%), monoterpenes along with sesquiterpenes (free, 54.9%; bound, 15.5%) and other compounds (bound, 1.6%). In total, 39 bound volatiles were identified, with eugenol (9.9%) and p-cresol (9.6%) being the major components. As far as we know, this is the first report on bound volatiles of osage orange fruit and 12 compounds were established to be identical by comparison with the free volatiles. The principal constituents of the essential oil were elemol (19.2%), 1-dodecanol (9.7%), trans-caryophyllene (5.6%) and n-hexyl hexanoate (5.4%). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."

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There is a field of osage orange tree's near me. Obviously none there with fruit now but there will be next year. We actually just call them horse apples. They are poisonous to humans and quite a few species of animals. I don't think it will kill you if you eat it but it will make you pretty sick (both ends). It does make cattle/horse's extremely sick and most farms will remove the trees for that reason.

 

http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/skineggs.html#hedgeapple here is an article on the fruit. I do agree with some parts of the article such as spiders crawling on and making webs on the trees & fruit as I have seen this. HOWEVER, If the fruit isn't cut open, I'm not sure if a spider could detect it in anyway as they can't smell.. Most all species of spiders have scent hairs on their legs to detect various scents/aromas and edibility of what they may be touching. Spiders have no sense of taste or ability to taste in their mouth, so this is how they decide what to kill/eat.

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There is a field of osage orange tree's near me. Obviously none there with fruit now but there will be next year. We actually just call them horse apples. They are poisonous to humans and quite a few species of animals. I don't think it will kill you if you eat it but it will make you pretty sick (both ends). It does make cattle/horse's extremely sick and most farms will remove the trees for that reason.

 

http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/skineggs.html#hedgeapple here is an article on the fruit. I do agree with some parts of the article such as spiders crawling on and making webs on the trees & fruit as I have seen this. HOWEVER, If the fruit isn't cut open, I'm not sure if a spider could detect it in anyway as they can't smell.. Most all species of spiders have scent hairs on their legs to detect various scents/aromas and edibility of what they may be touching. Spiders have no sense of taste or ability to taste in their mouth, so this is how they decide what to kill/eat.

 

Thank you!

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PB-

I have used these to repel spiders in the past--I guess it does work. So I tried it in a case where I had been away from my plants and had been delinquent on my preventative measures for mites--in the interest of science, I decided to see what the osage oranges would do. After a week I did not notice any positive deterrence of mites, and I resumed my normal measures.

My limited experience would indicate that the osage orange does not work for spider mites

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