Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Bois d'arc \Bois" d'arc"\ [F., bow wood. So called because used
   for bows by the Western Indians.] (Bot.)
   The Osage orange ({Maclura aurantiaca}).

         The bois d'arc seems to be the characteristic growth of
         the black prairies.                      --U. S. Census
                                                  (1880).