USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



peddle in the winter has formed a minor rural in- 

 dustry, yielding a modest revenue. 



The devotees of coffee, too, have found in the 

 wilderness places substitutes for their cheering cup. 

 One of these is the seed of the Kentucky Coffee-tre^e 1 

 (Gymnocladus Canadensis, Lam.), a picturesque 

 forest tree with double-compound leaves occurring 

 from Canada to Oklahoma. In winter it is conspicu- 

 ous because of the peculiar clubby bluntness of the 

 bare branches, due to the absence of small twigs and 

 branchlets, which gives to the whole tree a lifeless 

 sort of look that gained for it among the French 

 settlers the name Chicot, a stump. In the autumn 

 the female trees (the species is dioecious) are seen 

 hanging with brown, sickle-like pods six to eight 

 inches long and an inch or two wide, and containing 

 in the midst of a sweetish pulp several hard, flattish 

 seeds. If we are to judge from the popular name 

 it was probably the pioneers in Kentucky that first 

 had an inspiration to roast these seeds and grind 

 them for beverage purposes. The fact is, however, 

 that a century ago such use of them was quite preva- 

 lent in what was then the western wilderness, and 

 travelers' diaries of the time make frequent mention 

 of the practice. The journal, for instance, of Major 



148 



