Kentucky coffeetree
| Kentucky Coffeetree Gymnocladus dioicus | |
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| Gymnocladus dioicus[1] | |
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| Species: | G. dioicus
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| Binomial name | |
| Gymnocladus dioicus | |
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Gymnocladus canadensis Lam. | |
The Kentucky Coffeetree, Gymnocladus dioicus,[2] is a tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to the midwest of North America. The seed may be roasted and used as a substitute for coffee beans; however, unroasted pods and seeds are toxic. The wood from the tree is used by cabinetmakers and carpenters.
From 1976 to 1994 the Kentucky coffeetree was the state tree of Kentucky, after which the tulip poplar was returned to that designation.[3]
Description
Varies from 18 to 21 meters (60–70 feet) high with a spread of 12–15 meters (40–50 feet) and a trunk up to one meter (3 feet) in diameter. A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 4 meters (13 feet) tall. It usually separates 3 to 4½ meters (10–15 feet) from the ground into three or four divisions which spread slightly and form a narrow pyramidal head; or when crowded by other trees, sending up one tall central branchless shaft to the height of 15–21 m (50–70 ft). Branches are stout, pithy, and blunt; roots are fibrous.[4]
The Kentucky Coffeetree is a moderately fast-growing tree and the male trees are often grown in parks and along city streets for ornamental purposes. The tree is typically long-lived, healthy trees living from 100 to 150 years;[5] however they often appear dead for the first six months of its growth.[citation needed] This is because the Kentucky Coffeetree sheds its leaves early during the fall and therefore appears bare for up to 6 months. The naked appearance of the tree is reflected through the Kentucky Coffeetree's Greek genus name: γυμνοκλαδυς = "naked branch."[6]
Like the Sumac, branches are totally destitute of fine spray; smaller branches are thick, blunt, clumsy and lumpish. While other trees lose their leaves, 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 recognition of light and warmth until nearly every other tree is in full leaf. The casual observer says it bears no winter buds, but there is a tiny pair, wrapped in down and wool, lying sleeping in the axil of every last year's leaf.[4]
Among the trees of the eastern United States, there are two others with similarly large leaves: the Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) and the Devil's Walking-Stick (Aralia spinosa). The expanding leaves are conspicuous because of the varied colors of the leaflets; the youngest are bright pink, while those which are older vary from green to bronze.[4]
The bark is ash-gray and scaly, flaking similarly to black cherry, but more so. The flowers are dioecious, and the fruit is a hard-shelled bean in heavy, woody, thick-walled pods filled with sweet, thick, gooey pulp. The shape of the pods varies somewhat: pod length ranges from about 5 to 10 inches (130 to 250 mm); unfertilized female trees may bear miniature seedless pods. The beans contain the toxin cytisine.
- Bark: Tan or dark gray, deeply fissured, surface scaly, often with prominent narrow ridges. Branchlets at first coated with short reddish down.
- Wood: Light brown; heavy, strong, coarse-grained; durable in contact with the ground, takes a fine polish. Sp. gr., 0.6934; weight of cubic foot, 43.21 lb (19.60 kg).
- Winter buds: Minute, depressed in downy cavities of the stem, two in the axil of each leaf, the smaller sterile. Bud scales two, ovate, coated with brown tomentum and growing with the shoot, become orange green, hairy and about one inch long, before they fall.
- Leaves: Alternate, bipinnately compound, ten to fourteen pinnate, lowest pinnae reduced to leaflets, the other seven to thirteen foliate. One to three feet long, eighteen to twenty-four inches broad, by the greater development of the upper pairs of pinnae. Leaf stalks and stalks of pinnae, are terete, enlarged at base, smooth when mature, pale green, often purple on the upper side. Leaflets ovate, two to two and one-half inches long, wedge-shaped or irregularly rounded at base, with wavy margin, acute apex. They come out of the bud bright pink, but soon become bronze green, smooth and shining above. When full grown are dark yellow green above, pale green beneath. In autumn turn a bright clear yellow. Stipules leaf-life, lanceolate, serrate, deciduous.
- Flowers: June. Dioecious by abortion, terminal, greenish white. Staminate flowers in a short racemen-like corymb three to four inches (75–100 mm) long, pistillate flowers in a raceme ten to twelve inches (250–300 mm) long.
- Calyx: Tubular, hairy, ten-ribbed, five-lobed; lobes valvate in bud, acute, nearly equal.
- Corolla: Petals five, oblong, hairy, spreading or reflexed, imbricate in bud.
- Stamens: Ten, five long and five short, free, included; filaments thread-like; anthers orange colored, introrse; in the pistillate flower small and sterile.
- Pistil: Ovary superior, sessile, hairy, contracted into a short style, with two stigmatic lobes; ovules in two rows.
- Fruit: Legume, six to ten inches (150–250 mm) 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 and inch or two long. Seeds six to nine, surrounded by a thick layer of dark, sweet pulp.[4]
The Kentucky Coffeetree is believed to be an example of evolutionary anachronism. The tough, leathery seed pods are too difficult for many animals to chew through (in addition to being poisonous) and they are too heavy for either wind or water dispersal. It is thus believed that the tree would have been browsed upon by now-extinct mammoths and mastodons which ate the pods and nicked the seeds with their large teeth, aiding in germination which is a behavior seen among African Elephants eating Fabeacea relatives in Africa. Because of this, its range may have been much larger than in historical times. Since it only grows well in wetlands, this is thought to be the only way the seed pods can rot away in the absence of a large herbivore to eat them.[citation needed]
Taxonomy
Gymnocladus (γυμνοκλαδυς) is of Greek derivation and refers to the stout branches destitute of spray.[4]
It is one of three species in the genus Gymnocladus, the other two being native to eastern Asia. These are Chinese Coffeetree Gymnocladus chinensis in central China, and Burmese Coffeetree Gymnocladus burmanicus in Burma.
The name is sometimes hyphenated as 'coffee-tree'; the form 'coffeetree' here is as used officially by the United States Forest Service.
Distribution
The Kentucky Coffeetree is considered a rare tree species. "Rare species are those that are so uncommon that they should be monitored to determine whether their populations are becoming threatened."[6] It is widely dispersed, but rare.
The tree's native range was limited, occurring from Southern Ontario, Canada and in the United States from Kentucky (where it was first encountered by Europeans) and western Pennsylvania in the east, to Kansas, eastern Nebraska, and southeastern South Dakota in the west, to southern Wisconsin and Michigan[6] in the north, and to northern Louisiana in the south. It is planted as an urban shade tree across the United States and eastern Canada, including California.
This tree usually occurs as widely dispersed individuals or small colonial groups with interconnected root systems. This tree is found in floodplains and river valleys but is also sometimes seen on rocky hillsides and limestone woods. In the northeastern part of its range, seemingly natural groves of this tree are actually associated with known prehistoric village sites. In some parts of its range, this tree may be used as an indicator of the presence of limestone or of calcareous soils.
A 26 m high specimen has was referenced in La Turpinerie, commune of Geay, short distance from the Charente river in south-west France, grown in a typical calcareous soil (see Minutes of Congrès international de sylviculture de Paris, June 1900). Cut during the XXth century, it was 2,8 m circumference and was the tallest in the country at this time.
Uses
Cultivation
Gymnocladus dioicus is cultivated by specialty tree plant nurseries as an ornamental tree for planting in gardens and parks. The peculiarly late-emerging and early-dropping leaves, coupled with the fact that the large leaves mean few twigs in the winter profile, make it a tree that is ideal for urban shading where winter sunlight is to be maximized (such as in proximity to solar hot-air systems).
It is often planted because of its unique appearance and interesting character.[4] There are several Kentucky Coffee trees at Mount Vernon, in the gardens along the path leading up to the house of George Washington.
Trees prefer a rich moist soil, such as bottom lands.[4] Its growth is largely unaffected by heat, cold, drought, insects, disease, road salt, ice, and alkaline soil.
Kentucky Coffeetree is easy to grow from seed. Filing the seedcoat by hand with a small file, and then soaking the seeds in water for 24 hours will ensure rapid germination. Propagation is also easy from dormant root cuttings.
The Kentucky Coffeetree is typically found on "alluvial soils of river and flood plains and nearby terraces".[6] Here it can form large clonal colonies, reproducing by shoots sprouting from roots.
Food
The common name "coffeetree" derives from the use of the roasted seeds as a substitute for coffee[7] in times of poverty. They are a very inferior substitute for real coffee, and caution should be used as unroasted or only partially roasted beans and pods contain the alkaloid cystisine and are poisonous.[8]
When Kentucky was first settled by the adventurous pioneers from the Atlantic states who commenced their career in the primeval wilderness, almost without 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.[4]
The pods, preserved like those of the tamarind, can be eaten and are slightly aperient.[9] Roasting the pods and seeds neutralizes the cystisine, the toxic alkaloid.[5]
- Toxicity
The plant is toxic to some animals.[10]
Woodworking
The wood is used both by cabinetmakers and carpenters. It has very little sapwood.[9]
References
- ^ Cirrus Digital Morton Arboretum acc. 586-81-1
- ^ Synonyms include American coffee berry, Kentucky mahogany, nicker tree, and stump tree. Beasley, V. (9 August 1999). "Veterinary Toxicology" (PDF). Ithaca, New York: International Veterinary Information Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2006.
{{cite web}}:|chapter=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help); line feed character in|chapter=at position 90 (help) - ^ "Kentucky: Adoption of the Kentucky State Tree". NETSTATE. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Keeler, Harriet L. (1900). Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 109–112.
- ^ a b "Kentucky Trees: Gymnocladus dioicus (Kentucky Coffeetree), Pea Family (Fabaceae)" (PDF). Cooperative Extension Service, College of Agriculture, University of Kentucky. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2009.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d Barnes, Wagner et al. (1977). Michigan Trees
- ^ "Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus Dioicus)" (PDF). US Dept of Agriculture. Retrieved October 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ “Clinical signs include rapid onset (within 1 hour) of intense gastrointestinal irritation, profuse diarrhea and straining, vomiting, hypertension, bradycardia, respiratory depression, muscle paralysis, and convulsions. Animals often display depression. Death usually occurs within a day after clinical signs appear.”"Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus Dioicus)" (PDF). US Dept of Agriculture. Retrieved October 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Veterinary link
- Sternberg, Guy, (2004) Native Trees for North American Landscapes. Timber Press, Inc.
- University of Fort Smith Tree Guide Pod dimensions.
- Personal conversation with The Morton Arboretum regarding the occasional appearance of miniature seedless pods on female Kentucky Coffeetrees.
- Hightshoe, Gary L. (1988). Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America: A Planting Design Manual for Envieronmental Designers. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. pp 216–217.
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