LEGUMINOSAE 
Coffeetree. Kentucky Coffeetree 
Gymnocladus dioica (L.) 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%4 inches long and one-half as broad; 
short-stalked; ovate, acute; entire; thin and firm; dark green 
above, pale vellow-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 
Io: ovary hairy. 
‘FRUIT.—Ripens in autumn, but remains closed until late in 
winter; short-stalked, red-brown legumes 6-10 inches long, 114-2 
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. 
— 1638 — 
