Coffee Tree, Kentucky

Standing before you is the Kentucky Coffee Tree, or Gymnocladus dioicus. This tree was named the Kentucky Coffee Tree because pioneers would roast the seeds as a coffee substitute. However, avoid eating them because the raw seeds are toxic. Due to this, they have limited wildlife value, as only white-tailed deer occasionally feed on their pods. It is also said that a large Kentucky Coffee Tree stands over the buried arm of Stonewall Jackson in Virginia. This impressive specimen has a few heavy, ascending branches with exceptionally large leaves that reach up to a yard in length. These leaves are filled with up to 70 smooth, dark green leaftlets on 3 to 7 pairs of "branches." The pods produced by this tree turn dark brown as they ripen in the fall. These pods are filled with a thick yellowish pulp and 4 to 7 large, hard seeds. Additionally, these pods often stay on the tree through winter and into the next season.