292 EDWARD W. BERRY 



pulp suiToimding the seeds of the Chinese species is detersive 

 and is widely used in its native land as a substitute for soap. 



The Kentucky Coffee-tree is a large stately tree from 75 to 

 110 feet tall with a trunk from 2 to 3 feet in diameter, which, 

 however, generallj^ forks to form three or four main stems 

 within ten or fifteen feet of the ground. The leaves are large, 

 particularly on vigorous saplings and may measure three feet in 

 length by two feet in width. They have a stout leafstalk, a 

 terminal branch and from two to four pairs of lateral branches, 

 each bearing from 6 to 14 pairs of subsessile ovate leaflets, pink 

 at first and turning to a bronzy green at maturity. The 

 stipules, which in Robinia become .spines, are foliaceous and are 

 soon shed. Nor does the Coffee-tree develop thorns like its 

 close ally the honey locust. The flower clusters are large but 

 scarcely conspicuous except in the young trees. The flowers, 

 while sometimes mixed usually have the pollen bearing ones in 

 separate and larger clusters than the seed bearing ones. The 

 pods are large and hard, dark reddish brown in color, and are 

 sometimes as much as ten inches long and two inches wide. 

 They remain unopened throughout the winter and contain 

 numerous very hard globular seeds, about the size of small 

 marbles, imbedded in the sweet pulp. The wood is strong and 

 coarse grained, heavy but not hard. Like locust wood it resists 

 decay and is occasionally utilized for fence posts, rails, ties and 

 construction, and rarely for cabinet work. The shortness of the 

 butts and the scattered growth usually render the tree immune 

 from the lumbennan. 



The Coffee-tree prefers rich soil and occurs sporadically but 

 nowhere in abundance from central New York and western 

 Pennsylvania through southern Ontario and southern Michigan 

 to the valley of the Minnesota and southward to middle Ten- 

 nessee and southwestern Arkansas. It penetrates the prairie 

 country along the bottoms of the larger streams in eastern 

 Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. It is frequently planted in 

 parks in the eastern United States and in western Europe. 



The geological history of this tree is unfortunately almost 

 entirely unknown. As it occurs at the present time in both 



