KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE

(species Gymnocladus dioica), plant of the pea family (Fabaceae), native in North American woods from New York and southern Ontario to Oklahoma. In colonial times the seeds of the tree were used for coffee. Sometimes cultivated as an ornamental, the tree grows to about 30 m (100 feet) tall. The bipinnate leaves are twice compound (i.e., the leaflets, in turn, bear leaflets). The greenish white flowers, about 1 cm (0.4 inch) long, are borne in large clusters. The fruit is a dark brown pod 525 cm (about 29 inches) long, containing lens-shaped seeds about 2.5 cm (1 inch) broad.