Kentucky Coffee Tree

The Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus) is an interesting native tree in the legume family that has a wide distribution across the eastern and Midwestern part of this country but it is found in relatively small numbers. Other than the US the only other parts of the world this genus is found is China and Burma.

The Kentucky coffee tree gets its name from the fact that settlers used the seeds to make a coffee like beverage. It should be noted however that the beans and seed pod are poisonous and special care needs to be taken in the roasting of the seeds.

The Latin name Gymnocladus means naked branch, is descriptive of a tree that is slow to develop its leaves in the spring and one of the earliest trees to shed their leaves in the fall. In most regions this tree has leafless branches for a 6 month period.

The Kentucky coffee tree is a medium sized tree that usually grows about 80’ feet tall and has a 3’ diameter at maturity. The leaves of the Kentucky coffee tree are very distinctive being binately compound meaning that there are two rows of leaflets for each petiole.