Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum

Scientific name: Gymnocladus dioicus

Common name: Kentucky coffeetree

Native: Yes

Native range: Native to the eastern half of the United States [1,2,3].

Distribution in North America: Click to view the USDA Plants Database page for G. dioicus.

USDA Zones: 3B-8 [3]

Maximum age: May live up to 100 years or more [5].

Ecology: The foliage and seed pods are poisonous to most extant (currently living) wildlife [1,2]. However, millions of years ago during the Miocene and Pleistocene, this tree may have provided forage for now extinct megafauna, such as North American rhinos, camels, mastodons, mammoths, and gomphotheres [6].

Ethnobotany: The tree is mainly valued for its wildlife resistant foliage and large seed pods [1,2]. Although it contains a toxic alkaloid, cystisine, Indigenous Americans use the tree for a variety of medicinal and culinary purposes [4]. The tree's use by Indigenous Americans is thought to be a factor in its survival despite its lack of living dispersal vectors (animals that might eat and carry its seeds) [4,6].