27. GYMNOCLADUS CANAPENSIS COFFEE-TREE. 15 



27. GYMNOCLADUS CANADENSIS, LAM. 

 COFFEE-TREE. 



Ger., AmerilcaniscJier Schusser baum ; Fr., Ohicot, Gros Fevier ; 

 Sp., Arbol de cafe f also. 



SPECIFIC CHAKACTERS. Comprised in the above generic description this being the 

 only species. 



A tree of rather slim, straight habit of growth, sometimes attaining 

 the height of 100 ft. (30 m.) with a trunk 3 ft. (0.90 m.) in diameter, 

 conspicuous in summer from its large bicompound leaves of peculiar 

 tint. In winter, when the leaves are off, the absence of small twigs is a 

 striking feature, the branches having a peculiarly barren and dead ap- 

 pearance. From this character it has received its generic name, and for 

 the same reason the Canadian French call it " Chicot," i. e., stump 

 tree. 



HABITAT. Western New York (rare and local), southern Ontario and 

 westward to Minnesota, southward to Tennessee, growing in rich soil 

 along streams. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, strong, coarse-grained, quite 

 durable in contact with the soil, easily worked, handsome and taking a 

 high polish. It is of a rich brown color, marked or blotched as it were 

 here and there with red. The sap-wood is thin and of a greenish-white 

 color. Specific Gravity, 0.6934 ; Percentage of Ash, 0.67 ; Relative Ap- 

 proximate Fuel Value, 0.6888; Coefficient of Elasticity, 104822; Modu- 

 lus of Rupture, 771 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 400; Resist- 

 ance to Indentation, 160 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 43.21. 



USES. A very suitable timber for cabinet work, and it is used too to 

 some extent for building purposes, for fence-posts, rails, etc. It is valu- 

 able as an ornamental shade tree, and is quite extensively propagated for 

 that use. It is said that the leaves macerated and sweetened are used to 

 some extent as a fly poison. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. None are known of this species. 



NOTE. The name " Coffee-Tree" is said to have been given this tree 

 from the use which the early inhabitants made of its seeds as a substi- 

 tute for coffee, but which was discontinued when the real article could 

 be had. 



GENUS GLEDITSCHIA, L. 



Leaves abruptly once or twice pinnate and often the two forms on the same speci- 

 men. Flowers polygamous, greenish and inconspicuous in small spike-like racemes; 

 calyx short with 3-5 spreading lobes; petals 3-5 inserted on the base of the calyx 



