Trees of Alabama and the Southeast Home Page

Leaves are bipinnately compound, alternate and deciduous with up to 13 ovate to oval leaflets alternate on the rachis (leaflets of most species are arranged oppositely on the rachis).  Twigs are red-brown, mottled and stout with orange lenticels and heart-shaped leaf scars.  Bark is light brown to gray becoming loosely ridged and scaly.  Fruit is a woody, flat legume about 8 inches long containing brown oval seeds.  Kentucky coffeetree is found scattered in the eastern US as far south as northern Alabama usually on fertile, moist sites.  The heavy wood is used for fencing.  The seeds were roasted and used as a coffee substitute but raw seeds are poisonous.  Planted as an ornamental. 

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All text and photographs are intended for educational purposes only and are not for commercial use in any form.  All photographs are copyrighted by the named photographer(s), text copyright by Lisa Samuelson. © 2005, all rights reserved. Photographs by Mike Hogan.