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A native of the Midwestern United States, the slow-growing Kentucky Coffeetree reaches 80 feet tall and 50 feet wide when found in the open, with an upright, irregular, and thin appearance in youth, becoming dense and symmetrical with age. As a member of the Bean Family, it is related to many other representative species, including Redbud, Honeylocust, Black Locust, and Wisteria, among others. Pioneers in Kentucky and elsewhere used the beans as a coffee substitute (hence the common name), and Native Americans roasted the beans for food.
Kentucky Coffeetree prefers deep, moist, alkaline soils, but thrives almost anywhere it is planted, except for permanently wet soils. It is extremely tolerant to many stresses (including heat, drought, poor soils, compacted soils, high pH soils, occasional brief flooding, and air pollution), and has been extensively planted in parks along the East Coast, thus extending its geographic range. It grows in full sun to partial sun, and is found in zones 4 to 8.
Kentucky Coffeetree offers no significant disease or pest problems, and should be more widely planted in open spaces that can afford its large size and beauty at maturity. Since it does not fruit at an early age, determination of gender may take a number of years, since the seedless males offer less of a cleanup problem due to the absence of fallen fruit pods and seeds.
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