PEA FAMILY 



Stamens.— Tqu, five long and five short, free, included ; filaments 

 thread-like ; anthers orange colored, introrse ; in the pistillate flower 

 small and sterile. 



Pistil.— Ovdiry superior, sessile, hairy, contracted into a short style, 

 with two stigmatic lobes ; ovules in two rows. 



Fruit. — Legume, six to ten inches long, one and one-half to two 

 inches wide, somewhat curved, with thickened margins, dark reddish 

 brown with slight glaucous bloom, crowned with remnant of the 

 styles. Stalks an inch or two long. Seeds six to nine, surrounded 

 by a thick layer of dark, sweet pulp. 



When Kentucky wa^ first settled by the adventurous pioneers from the Atlan- 

 tic states who commenced their career in the primeval wilderness, almost with- 

 out the necessaries of life, except as they produced them from the fertile soil, 

 they fancied that they had discovered a substitute for coffee in the seeds of this 

 tree ; and accordingly the name of Coffee-tree was bestowed upon it. But when 

 communication was established with the sea-ports, they gladly relinquished their 

 Kentucky beverage for the more grateful flavor of the Indian berry ; and no use 

 is at present made of it in that manner. —A.J. Downing. 



This is another of the solitary trees of our flora. It grows 

 north as far as Montreal and south to the limits of Arkansas, 



nevertheless one may be 

 a student of forest trees 

 many years ere one finds 

 the Kentucky Coffee-tree 

 growing on its native 

 hills. In pleasure 

 grounds it is not uncom- 

 mon, since it is often 

 planted because of its 

 unique appearance and 

 interesting character. 

 Like the Sumach it is wholly destitute of fine spray, its 

 smaller branches are thick, blunt, clumsy and lumpish. 

 Other trees lose their leaves but along their twigs and 

 branchlets are borne the buds, the hope and the promise of 

 the coming year. But the Gymnocladus seems so destitute of 

 these, that the French in Canada named it Chicot, the dead 

 tree. Even when spring comes it gives no apparent recog- 

 nition of light and warmth until nearly every other tree is 



no 



Pistillate and Staminate Flowers of Kentucky 

 Coffee-tree. 



