KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE (Gymnocladusdioicus,K.Koch). 

 75 to 100 feet. A narrow, round-topped tree, with stout, 

 thornless twigs. Buds half-buried, above prominent, pale, 

 broadly heart-shaped leaf scars. Bark gray, deeply furrowed 

 between scaly ridges; often reddish. Wood light brown, soft, 

 heavy, coarse, durable, used for fencing. Leaves twice com- 

 pound, 2 to 3 feet long, the stout, branching leaf stalk bear- 

 ing 5 to 9 pinnae with 6 to 14 leaflets set opposite, silky- 

 hoary when they open, becoming smooth, turning yellow at 

 last. Leaflets ovate, acute, thin, shining, dark green, 2 to 

 2| inches long. Flowers in June, dioecious, regular, greenish 

 white, hairy: staminate racemes 3 to 4 inches long, lower 

 pedicels branched; pistillate racemes 10 to 12 inches long, 

 pedicels stout, hairy, long. Fruit a pod, stout, thick-walled, 

 purple, 6 to 10 inches long, 2 inches wide, filled with sweetish, 

 gummy pulp, around a row of hard globular seeds | inch in 

 diameter. Dist.: Rich soil, New York to Minnesota and 

 Nebraska; south into Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas, 

 and Oklahoma. Fine shade tree. 



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