Gymnocladus dioicus (L.) K. Koch - Accepted: Gymnocladus dioicus (L.) K. Koch bei Zander 2008; Familie: Caesalpiniaceae (Zander 2008)
Gymnocladus dioicus (L.) K. Koch - : bei Zander 2008; Familie: Caesalpiniaceae (Zander 2008)
Gymnocladus dioicus (L.) K. Koch - Synonym: Gymnocladus dioica (L.) K. Koch bei The Plant List (2010); Familie: Fabaceae (Leguminosae, Papilionaceae) (APG III)
Gymnocladus dioica (L.) K. Koch - Accepted: Gymnocladus dioica (L.) K. Koch bei The Plant List (2010); Familie: Fabaceae (Leguminosae, Papilionaceae) (APG III)
Gymnocladus dioica (L.) K. Koch - Accepted: Gymnocladus dioica (L.) K. Koch bei The Plant List (2014), version 1.1; Familie: Fabaceae (Leguminosae, Papilionaceae) (APG III)
Gymnocladus dioica (L.) K. Koch - Accepted: Gymnocladus dioica (L.) K. Koch bei The Plant List (2014), version 1.1; Familie: Fabaceae (Leguminosae, Papilionaceae) (APG IV)

Flowers

dioecious or polygamodioecious flowers

Flower ecology

animal-pollinated (bumblebees, digger bees, butterflies, hummingbirds)

Life form

tree

Foliage persistence

deciduous

Fruits

fruit is a thick, woody legume, filled with a sweet gelatinous substance; fruit usually persists indehiscent on the tree during winter

Fruit ecology

water-dispersed (hydrochorous) (in prehistorical times presumably zoochorous by the now-extinct American mastodons or other mammals)

Soil conditions

preferentially on sunny, moist, humus-rich, limestone soils

Natural occurrence (habitat)

deciduous woodlands, bottomland woodlands, riverbanks; rocky, open wooded hillsides

Vegetation typ and synecology (plant community)

temperate, mixed mesophytic deciduous forests

Constraints according habitat

tolerates drought, occasional flooding and urban pollution

Usage

as ornamental tree, in landscape plantings and parks; wood is used for cabinet works, furniture, fencing and railway sleepers; fruit is used as a soap due to high content of saponins; the roasted seeds were used as a coffee substitute

Erhardt, W., Götz, E., Bödeker, N. & Seybold, S. (2008): Der große Zander. Enzyklopädie der Pflanzennamen. Band 2. Arten und Sorten. Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart (Hohenheim), 18. Aufl., 2103 S.;

The International Plant Names Index (2009). Published on the Internet http://www.ipni.org; Courtesy to IPNI, 2009. Exported from IPNI at date: 2009-09-22 20:17:51;

Zaya, D. N. & Howe, H. F. (2009): The anomalous Kentucky coffeetree: megafaunal fruit sinking to extinction?. Oecologia, 161(2): 221-226.;