The Naked Club

Wonder what kind of  “pingbacks” that title will lead to.

One of my favorite trees when I was growing up in Nebraska–and one of my favorite trees even now–was the Kentucky coffee tree, a scarce but highly distinctive species found in a few scattered locations in the southeastern part of the state. It owes its generic name, Gymnocladus, to the coarse, clubby appearance of the branches, which are bare for much of fall, winter, and spring.

But it’s those great leathery pods, of course, that are most noticeable. Some individual trees, like the one above, in Fontenelle Forest, seem to hold on to them for months, while others drop them early in the cold season.

As children we loved to collect the smooth, hard “beans,” which are surrounded by a matrix of tacky green goo (to get all scientific about it).

Part of the charm of the tree is the story of these beans’ being used as a coffee substitute in ages past. I’m not sure I believe it (especially given that the rest of the plant is said to be not good for you at all), but it makes a good tale–and a beautiful tree.