Sorry folks I unintentionally misled. The advice that I had received from the Internet stated unequivocally that if any fruit sliced mid-sphere and displayed a five-point arrangement of the seed compartments was an apple. What they should have said was that the star shaped pattern is unique to pomes.

Yesterday I returned to the apple tree to get a sample of the leaves to describe to Wordwind today. Pictures of the osage orange that I looked up on the Internet didn't much look like the fruit in question so I hoped that the leaves would further identify the tree.

Then I had a brilliant idea...why not take the samples to the Botanicial Gardens and ask a horticulturists to name the tree. So I did.

Carrying a clear plastic bag filled the fruit, twigs, and leaves of the tree I walked down the second floor hallway of the Botanical Gardens where the state horticulturists hang out. Seemingly without looking at my plastic bag a woman with a smile and a sparkle of humor in her eyes stopped me in the hallway and said, " Hey! Watcha doing walking around with those Asian Pears in that bag?"

It turned out that she was the one that the horticulturists went to when they had questions. She told me that the pear was quite good to eat and should ripen soon on the tree and then become soft and suculent and the outer skin would become shiny and smooth and recommended that I pick a couple of bushels which should be enough to make a a very good and fruity wine.

And I will. And oh yeah, besides all the good stuff that I learned from Of Troy about apples, ( Thanks, Of Troy ) I also learned that all apples are pomes, but pomes can be other fruits other than apples. Like pears, for example.