KEN ll CK1 COl FEE-TREE 

 ytnnocladuM dioicus (L.) Koch 



The Senna Family 



I U B M.IMNI \( | 



Habit and Habitat: \ rather slender tree, ;u-40 feet liijrh. with 

 a trunk diameter of 6-20 inches; with a tall, straight trunk and small 

 crown or the trunk dividing near the ground int H era! main branches 

 which spread out to form the rounded or pyramidal, very open crown; 

 branches stout; twigs stout, clumsy or club-like, blunt. Prefers the m< 

 rich, well-drained loam or silt soils of north slopes 1 river bottom- 



lands. 



Leaves and Bud^: Leaves alternate, doubly pinnately compound. 

 1-4 feet long, leaflets 20-40 or more, 1-2 inches long and about half as 

 wide, short stalked, ovate, pointed, entire, thin and membranous, dark 

 sen above, pale yellowish-green beneath, smooth, petioles stout, 

 cylindrical, broad at the base, smooth and often more or less bluish. 

 The buds are very small, in depressions in the bark, usually two for each 

 leaf, brownish, silky-hairy. 



Flowers and Fruits: The flowers appear in June, when the leaves 

 are full grown, greenish white, imperfect; the staminate in short- 

 stalked loosely-flowered clusters 2-5 inches long; pistillate in loose, long- 

 stalked clusters, 8-12 inches long; calyx tubular, hairy; petals 5, greenish- 

 white; stamens 10; ovary 1 -celled, hairy, irregular in shape. The fruit 

 is a flattish, heavy, short-stalked, bright reddish brown, leathery pod, 

 inches long, 1-2 inches wide and 1 4 - : - inch thick, with abruptly taper- 

 ing point, containing 1-8 large flattish, olive-colored, very hard seeds 

 imbedded in a greenish, sweetish pulp, remaining closed apd on the tree 

 until late fall or winter. 



Bark. Twigs and Wood: The bark of very young twigs is green- 

 ish, often bluish or purplish, often coated with short, densely aggre- 

 gated reddish hairs, becoming light brown and smooth, on old branches 

 and main trunk, thick and deeply fissured and scaly, the scales often 

 very hard and resistant and attached by one side, dark reddish-gray. 

 quite red beneath the bark scales. The wood is heavy, hard, strong, 

 coarse-grained, very durable in contact with the soil, bright, reddish- 

 brown, with thin light-colored sapwood. taking a fine polish in finish- 

 ing. 



Distribution in the State: This is another eastern tree which is 



mmon in the Iowa and Missouri forests and from those states 



has moved into Nebraska along the Missouri river he whole 



tern border and up the Niobrara river to the region of Rock county. 



The species does not occur ouite so far west along the southern border 



of the state as does its near relative the honey locu>t. .Map 42. 



Remarks: The generic name of this tree comes from two Cir> 

 - meaning "naked branch" or "naked club", from the .-tout, naked 

 and clumsy branches of which the open crown of the tree is compoi 

 This tree is really quite a novelty among our few native trees hoc;. 

 ( its enormous compound leaves and its ^di\. leathery pods which 

 ecially noticeable after the leaves have fallen. A beautiful specimen 

 is growing upon the university camnus at Lincoln which 

 clearly india - the value of th« a lane ment. 



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