Gymnocladus is a small genus of trees native to North America and Asia. The Asian species are poorly known in North America, and the genus is represented locally only by the Kentucky coffee-tree, Gymnocladus dioicus. This species is native to the Midwest, where it is uncommon. Despite its rarity, it has proven itself a resilient tree in urban settings, and while it has never quite taken off, it has vocal proponents in the urban forestry community.
The coffee-tree grows fairly quickly to a moderately large size, and has a rounded shape, sometimes with poor structure. The leaves are bipinnately compound, and very large, though each individual leaflet is small. When the leaves are shed in winter, it has a rather bare appearance with few small twigs. This makes it a great tree for those who appreciate winter light. Its largest drawback is that the female trees drop large bean-like pods, which are toxic and supposedly can damage car paint. Luckily, a male clone, 'Espresso', was propagated by UC Davis and is now sold nationwide.
Some sources claim the tree is very drought tolerant, but I haven't seen enough of them to say just how true this is--many trees that are relatively drought-tolerant in humid climates may still struggle in our climate. The few trees I have seen in our area all seem fairly healthy, but this is not a common tree in hot climates, so its resilience to our future heat remains somewhat uncertain. There is a young, healthy specimen at the University of Arizona in Tuscon, so the species is promising and worthy of further experimentation.
The coffee-tree grows fairly quickly to a moderately large size, and has a rounded shape, sometimes with poor structure. The leaves are bipinnately compound, and very large, though each individual leaflet is small. When the leaves are shed in winter, it has a rather bare appearance with few small twigs. This makes it a great tree for those who appreciate winter light. Its largest drawback is that the female trees drop large bean-like pods, which are toxic and supposedly can damage car paint. Luckily, a male clone, 'Espresso', was propagated by UC Davis and is now sold nationwide.
Some sources claim the tree is very drought tolerant, but I haven't seen enough of them to say just how true this is--many trees that are relatively drought-tolerant in humid climates may still struggle in our climate. The few trees I have seen in our area all seem fairly healthy, but this is not a common tree in hot climates, so its resilience to our future heat remains somewhat uncertain. There is a young, healthy specimen at the University of Arizona in Tuscon, so the species is promising and worthy of further experimentation.