LEGUMINOSAE 



Coffeetree. Kentucky Coffeetree 



Gymnocladus dioica, (Z.) Koch. [Gymnocladus canadensis, 



Lam.] 



HABIT. A slender tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diam- 

 eter of 2-3 feet ; divides near the ground into several stems which 

 spread slightly to form a narrow, pyramidal crown; branchlets 

 stout, clumsy, blunt, with conspicuous leaf-scars. 



LEAVES. Alternate, bipinnately compound, 1-3 feet long. 

 Leaflets 40 or more, 2-2 l / 2 inches long and one-half as broad; 

 short-stalked; ovate, acute; entire; thin and firm; dark green 

 above, pale yellow-green and glabrous beneath. Petioles stout, 

 terete, glabrous. Appear late in spring. 



FLOWERS. June, after the leaves; dioecious; greenish 

 white; the staminate short-stalked, in racemose corymbs 3-4 

 inches long; the pistillate long-stalked, in racemes 10-12 inches 

 long ; calyx tubular, hairy ; petals 5, keeled, nearly white ; stamens 

 10 ; ovary hairy. 



FRUIT. Ripens in autumn, but remains closed until late in 

 winter; short-stalked, red-brown legumes 6-10 inches long, 1^-2 

 inches wide, containing 6-9 large, flat seeds. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud absent; lateral buds min- 

 ute, depressed, 2 in the axil of each leaf, bronze-brown, silky- 

 pubescent. 



BARK. Twigs coated with short, dense, reddish pubescence, 

 becoming light brown; thick, deeply fissured and scaly on the 

 trunk, dark gray. 



.WOOD. Heavy, somewhat soft, strong, coarse-grained, 

 very durable in contact with the soil, light red-brown, with thin, 

 lighter colored sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. Southern Michigan as far north as the 

 Grand River. Infrequent. 



HABITAT. Prefers bottom-lands and rich soil. 



NOTES. The seeds in early days were used as a substitute 

 for coffee. 



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