For anyone who doesn't know or look this up, Osage Oranges are what we in the Midwest called 'hedge apples', those creepy alien looking green balls you'd see littered in yards.

This guy calculates a "bow index", and reckons European Yew and Osage Orange are in a dead heat:

https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/bow-woods/

But in the comments, someone identifies "speed of cast" aka "self-fling speed" (!) as the key metric for bow woods, and he doesn't have European Yew, but according to that, Pacific Yew and Osage Orange are also pretty much the same!

After watching this, I made the connection that the French "Bois d'arc" for Osage Orange refers to its use in bows. It turns out that Osage Orange really is one of the best woods for bows.

If you watch the linked video, six mins in he has a “bow score” based on strength and flex. Osage Orange was 2nd, after Dogwood.

Relevant article from Texas Monthly regarding the history of Osage Orange:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/osage-orange-histor...