If you like big leaves, the Kentucky Coffeetree is the tree for you. It has 3 feet long and 2 feet wide bipinnately compound leaves that are held on very stout twigs with the diameter of cigars. The large leaves are divided into 3-7 pairs of pinnae, with individual leaflets (1-3” long). Leaflets are blue-green in summer, turning an undistinguished yellow in fall. Greenish white flowers appear in late spring (May-June). Male flowers in clusters to 4” long. Female flowers in panicles to 12” long. Female flowers are fragrant.

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Female trees produce leathery pods that look like brown lima beans. Inside the pods are rock hard seeds the size of marbles that settlers to Kentucky are believed to have used as a coffee substitute. Seeds are very toxic prior to roasting, and should never be eaten fresh off the tree. Trees are late to leaf out in spring and are one of the first to drop leaves in the fall. This large, deciduous tree is widely dispersed, but rare, through the central United States.

USDA Zones 3-8