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Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: Kentucky coffee tree
Type: Tree
Family: Fabaceae
Zone: 3 to 8
Native Range: Central and eastern North America
Height: 60 to 80 feet
Spread: 40 to 55 feet
Bloom Time: May to June
Bloom Color: White
Bloom Description: Greenish-white
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flowers: Showy Flowers, Fragrant Flowers
Fruit: Showy Fruit
Other: Winter Interest
Tolerates: Drought, Air Pollution
Uses: Rain Garden, Shade Tree
Culture
Best grown in moist, organically rich, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates poorer soils and drought. Avoid heavy clays however. Also adapts well to urban conditions. Suckers to form colonies in the wild.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Kentucky coffeetree or coffeetree is a tall deciduous tree with rough, scaly gray-brown bark and large bipinnate compound leaves. It is native to the Midwest, primarily southern Michigan and Ohio southwest to Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It grows 60-80’ (less frequently to100’) tall with an irregular open oval to obovate crown. In Missouri, it typically occurs in low or rich woods, bluff bases and along streams (Steyermark). Large leaves to 3’ long, divided into 3-7 pairs of pinnae, with individual leaflets (1-3” long). Leaflets are blue-green in summer, turning an undistinguished yellow in fall. Larger trees typically cast light shade. As the specific epithet suggests, the species is dioecious (separate male and female trees). Greenish white flowers appear in late spring (May-June). Male flowers in clusters to 4” long. Female flowers in panicles to 12” long. Female flowers are fragrant. Fertilized female flowers give way to flattened reddish brown pods (to 10”long) which ripen in October and persist well into winter. Native Americans and early American settlers, especially those in the Kentucky territory, roasted and ground the seeds to brew a coffee-like beverage (albeit no caffeine), hence the common name. Native Americans roasted the seeds for food. Seeds are very toxic prior to roasting, and should never be eaten fresh off the tree. Trees are late to leaf out in spring and are one of the first to drop leaves in the fall. Genus name is from Greek gymnos (naked) and cladus (branch) in probable reference to the absence of foliage for about 1/2 of the year.
Plant of Merit
Kentucky coffee tree is primarily grown today as a rugged but picturesque shade tree for large landscapes. Mature trees rise to 60-80 feet tall with open-rounded crowns, stout branching, scaly brown bark and very large, double pinnate compound leaves. A single leaf may grow to as much as 3' long and have 100 or more tiny leaflets. Greenish-white flowers bloom in spring, with flowers on female trees giving rise to thick, flattened, reddish-brown pods, which ripen in fall with persistence into winter. Trees leaf out late in spring and drop early in fall. Naked branches often form a striking winter silhouette. Early settlers roasted and ground the seeds of this native of eastern North America to make a coffee-like beverage, hence the common name.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Leaves and seedpods can create litter problems.
Garden Uses
Good landscape tree for large lawns and parks. Male trees are generally considered more desirable because of the lack of seedpods. However, mature female trees with hanging seedpods can be very attractive in outline against a winter sky.