from American Indians, who enjoyed them roasted. The seeds are far 
from delicious, it is said, which is just as well since they contain poisons. 
The Indians put the seeds to healthier use as dice, which may account for 
the modern populations of Kentucky coffeetree at the historic sites of 
Indian villages in Wisconsin. They used the powdered root as “smelling 
salts” to revive unconscious patients. 
The Kentucky coffeetree ranges across southern Canada and the 
northern and central Midwest, including Missouri, and lives in bot- 
tomlands and at the bases of bluffs. It does not usually form extensive 
stands, but is spotty in distribution. 
As with many other lowland trees, the wood resists rotting, making it 
desirable for fence posts. Likewise a feature common in lowland trees, 
Kentucky coffeetrees sucker from the roots, sometimes at considerable 
distances from the parent trees. 
Slow to leaf out in the spring and early with the autumn leaf-drop, the 
Kentucky coffeetree is well named Gymnocladus, meaning “naked- 
branches” in Latin. Dioicus comes from the botanical term describing 
species with separate male and female plants. 
Gymnocladus divicus 
son H 
GLOBO, 
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