The Kentucky coffee-tree reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Kentucky coffee-tree

Kentucky coffee-tree Gymnocladus dioicus is a tree in the Caesalpinioideae subfamily of the pea family Fabaceae, occurring from the far south of Ontario south to Louisiana, and from Kentucky in the east (where it was first encountered) to Kansas in the west.

The common name "coffee-tree" derives from the use of the roasted seeds as a substitute for coffee in times of poverty. They are a very inferior substitute for real coffee, and caution should be used in trying them as they are poisonous in large quantities.

There are four other species in the genus Gymnocladus, one in central China, Chinese Coffee-tree Gymnocladus chinensis, and the other three in southeast Asia.

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