Daniel said:

I was at a local Farmer's market a couple of weeks ago and saw someone =
selling a fruit called - "Spider Apple". They said it can be used to =
keep spiders away from areas of the house. Does anyone know what the =
real name of the fruit or vegetable is. It is about the size of an green =
apple, and has a wrinkly looking skin.

The fruit of the Osage orange or hedge apple (Maclura pomifera) has the
folk-reputation of being an pest repellent. That might be morphable into
"spider apple" I suppose.

According to this article, the fruit of the Osage orange actually contains
a chemical that has insect repellant properties, so maybe there's a
nugget of truth in the folk tale--but the fruit should be crushed before
being set out as a repellant.

http://weather.nmsu.edu/AbqPlantList...sageOrange.htm

Every fall the hedge apples lay thick under a pair of trees I regularly
drive by, sizes ranging from apple up beyond large grapefruit.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)