Kentucky coffee tree a messy but hardy beauty

There are two sides to every story, and depending on how you read the Missouri native Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus), you might wonder why anyone would even consider adding it to a home landscape, or it could become one of your favorites.

Kentucky coffee trees regularly reach heights between 60 and 80 feet and occasionally stretch out even higher. The tree's native range is roughly the middle and mid-eastern sections of the United States, and what appears to a strong contestant for national champion at a height of 120 feet recently was discovered in Harrison County, Ken.

In its sapling years, Kentucky coffee tree is often gangly with sparse, coarse branching. It grows rapidly in youth, and a little pruning can promote increased branching. Its growth slows as it matures, eventually forming an upright, uneven rounded crown of magnificent stature. Its growth habit of well-spaced branches at right angles to the trunk, though bold and somewhat blunt and irregular, gives the tree durability. The tree's rough gray or brown bark is attractive, with overlapping ridges that curl out from the tree.

The Missouri Department of Conservation notes that Kentucky coffee tree's leaves are the largest of any of the state's native trees, but before you start thinking of elephant ear-size foliage, think bipinnately compound, which means that the trees' 2- to 3-foot leaves are an arrangement of several smaller branches, or pinnae, off of a central stem, or rachis, each with as many as a dozen or so leaflets. The airiness of this arrangement makes the tree's shade less dense than many other large shade trees, making it possible to establish plantings and grass beneath its spread.

Fall foliage is a somewhat nondescript chartreuse, and the tree is among the first to lose its leaves and one of the last to leaf-out in the spring, rendering it leafless for six months out of the year. Its Latin name is derived from the Greek "gymnos," which means "naked," and "cladus," which means "branch." When it finally does emerge in spring, its foliage is a striking pink-bronze color.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Kentucky coffee tree's blooms appear in May or June and are greenish white. Female blooms are arranged on 12-inch-long panicles, and male flowers occur in 4-inch-long clusters, often hidden by the foliage. Different sex blooms can occur on the same tree, but trees generally are distinctly male or female.

Female blooms give rise to flattened, tough-skinned, reddish-brown pods as much as 8 inches in length. Each pod contains a fleshy pulp and extremely hard-shelled seeds that are poisonous until roasted. Americans Indians ate the seeds, and early settlers made a coffee substitute from them, hence its name. Not only does the faux coffee lack caffeine, but by most accounts; it was only brewed out of desperation for the real thing, as it also lacks favorable flavor.

The pods persist on the tree through the winter, adding visual interest and a little winter music as they rattle in the wind. Some consider having to clean up the dropped pods a nuisance, but it must be done. A lawn mower can make a deadly projectile out of them. Non-seed-producing male clones such as "Espresso" and "Stately Manor" have been developed.

Missouri botanist Julian Steyermark said Kentucky coffee trees are found in low rich woods, bluff bases and along streams, the latter because of seed dispersal by the water flow. Kentucky coffee trees are dwindling in the wild because it takes as long as three years to break seeds' hard, physical dormancy. Thousands of years ago, the seeds were spread by dinosaurs that could munch the pods and deposit the seeds widely, but modern-day critters don't dine on them.

Native Kentucky coffee trees are widely adaptable, and with no known pests, they are an obvious contender for the replacement of urban trees now threatened by pests such as the emerald ash borer. If you are considering the addition of a grand tree with great promise, the Kentucky coffee tree can fill the bill.

If you have an interest in native plants, you might want to consider attending the Missouri Grow Native! Program's upcoming professional member conference Nov. 6. Catering to native plant professionals, the event also is open to the general public and offers an opportunity to learn about new native plant trends and innovative native plant applications. Hosted by the University of Missouri and Mizzou Botanic Garden, the registration fee is $25, which includes lunch. Learn more at grownative.org/membership.