GYMNOCLADUS CANADENSIS 
313 
GYMNOCLADUS CANADENSIS 
—THE AMERICAN COFFEE- 
TREE. 
Among the scarcer hardy trees of North 
America few are more remarkable than 
the Kentucky Coffee-Tree, Gymiio- 
cladus canadejisis. Though many good 
examples are to be seen here and there 
in our parks and river-valleys, it has 
remained a rare tree spite of its perfect 
hardiness and beauty of foliage. Its 
peculiar appearance during winter has 
sometimes been urged against it by 
planters, the head showing but a few 
stout branches held stiffly erect, devoid 
of spray, and without any apparent buds. 
This strangely dead look has given rise 
to the Canadian name of Stump Tree, 
but though hardy in that coun- 
try and even named in its honour, 
it is a scarce tree so far north 
and is indeed nowhere common, 
growing only here and there in 
sheltered river- valley sand always 
in the richest soil, along with the 
Hickory, the Black Walnut, the 
Red Elm, and the Tulip Tree. 
Though seemingly so lifeless 
throughout the winter, with late 
spring the tree bursts into almost 
tropical luxuriance. The bluish-green 
leaves are divided into many leaflets 
and unfold to a length of 3 feet and 
more upon young trees and 2 feet wide 
at the base, though as the trees grow 
old the leaves diminish to about half 
this size. This crown of foliage hangs 
in a rounded mass and would seem 
almost too heavy save for the graceful 
effect of the individual leaves. 
The tree flowers less frequently with 
us than upon the continent, and often 
not until mature or becoming old, 
especially in the case of male trees. For 
the sexes are apart in theOymnocladus, 
and though the flowers are not very dif- 
ferent in appearance, the fertile trees are 
often earlier in beginning to bloom. The 
flowers are graceful when present in 
quantity but are not showy, coming as 
loose spike-like heads of greyish-white, 
at the same time as the leaves. The 
tree hardly ever fruits with us though 
it ripens seed in France and other parts 
of Europe where the summers are longer 
and drier, and the appearance of the 
female tree, thickly laden with its broad 
curved pods of reddish-brown and 5 
to 8 inches long, is very striking. Until 
GvMNOCLADUS— Flower and Fruiting Spray. 
that stage is reached one would hardly 
associate the tree with the Bean-tribe, 
and indeed it belongs to the tender 
section of the family along with Caes- 
alpinia, Bauhinia, and other tropical 
trees. These flat pods contain a sweet- 
ish pulp and 6 or 7 large bean-like seeds 
of a grey-colour, which are very hard 
and were formerly roasted and ground 
into powder by the early settlers for 
the making of a drink — whence the 
American name of Coffee-Tree. This 
