The Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus) is rare throughout most of its natural range. In New York City, however, it’s commonly planted as a street tree — almost 10,000 of them are scattered throughout the five boroughs.
At Marsha P. Johnson State Park, coffeetrees line the iconic central walkway. These hardy urban trees have an extraordinary history. Indigenous people, including the Dakota, Meskwaki, Omaha, Pawnee, and Ho-Chunk, used the seeds of coffeetrees as food and medicine.
European colonists imitated the Meskwaki practice of roasting and grinding the seeds to make a hot beverage, leading to the “coffeetree” nickname. (Readers should note that raw seeds are poisonous.)
But the evolution of the tree’s large seedpods predates even human presence in North America. The coffeetree likely lived alongside Pliocene megafauna such as the American mastodon. This gigantic animal, which was larger than modern elephants, would have been capable of chewing through the coffeetree’s woody pods and dispersing its seeds.
Nowadays, this “evolutionary anachronism” must rely on humans for dispersal or else wait for the pod to gradually rot away. Fortunately, humans have an incentive to keep coffeetrees around.
According to the New York City Tree Map, the city’s coffeetrees provide the equivalent of $750,000 per year in ecological benefits such as stormwater interception, energy conservation, and air pollution reduction.
Flannery James is a NYC Region NYS Parks Student Conservation Association Intern at New York State Parks. This essay first appeared at the State Parks & Historic Sites Blog.
Read more about urban ecology in New York State.
Photos, from above: Kentucky coffeetrees line the walkway at Marsha P. Johnson State Park; and coffeetree seedpods (provided by State Parks).
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