The Kentucky coffeetree, or coffee-tree (Gymnocladus dioicus) was adopted as Kentucky’s first state tree in 1976.
The state tree bill explains some of the reasons the coffeetree was chosen:
WHEREAS, in the entire world of arboriculture only the Kentucky coffeetree bears the proud word Kentucky in its name; and
WHEREAS, the bean of the Kentucky coffeetree once was used as a substitute for coffee by the intrepid pioneers who carved the Commonwealth from the wilderness; and
WHEREAS, John Filson in his “History of Kentucky” did refer to the unique beauty and usefulness of the Kentucky coffeetree; and
WHEREAS, in 1783 General George Rogers Clark did send seeds of the Kentucky coffeetree to Thomas Jefferson and which seeds produced trees still gracing the grounds of Monticello; and
WHEREAS, the Kentucky coffeetree often is referred to as “Kentucky Mahogany” for the beauty of its wood; and
WHEREAS, the Kentucky coffeetree, although once growing in multitudinous plenty, now is an endangered species;
The Kentucky coffeetree’s native range is from New York and Pennsylvania to Tennessee and eastern Oklahoma. But only Kentucky called it its state tree.
A New State Tree
It’s hard to imagine why Kentuckians would trade a tree named for Kentucky for a tree that represents two neighboring states. But that’s exactly what they did on July 15, 1994, when the tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) was declared the new state tree.
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