Talk:Kentucky coffeetree

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Quote: The tree is typically long-lived however often appears dead for the first six months of its growth. This is because the Kentucky Coffeetree sheds its leaves early during the late spring and therefore appears bare for up to 6 months.

This is certainly not true, the tree does not shed its leafes in late spring but leaf growth will not start until late spring. 85.127.211.103 (talk) 19:01, 10 March 2010 (UTC) Johann

Quote: Among the trees of the eastern United States, there are two others with similarly large leaves: the Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) ...

The leafe size of Gleditsia triacanthos is nowhere near as large as the leafes of Gymnocladus diocia. 85.127.211.103 (talk) 19:03, 10 March 2010 (UTC) Johann

Is it the state Tree

A new user appears to have changed it to say that its the state tree, but all of the sources I could find say its the tulip poplar. Does anyone know the correct answer. If I don't hear back from anybody I'll change it back.Chhe (talk) 14:41, 17 March 2010 (UTC) I hear it was once the coffee bean tree, it is even on earlier flags of KY but once the big mining companies came in they did not want the Eastern Ky people to be able to make a living at selling coffee beans (only working in mines) and had them outlawed in the state of Kentucky so the state tree was changed to the tulip poplar.

Safe to consume?

The opening paragraph states "The seed may be used as a substitute for coffee beans, however, it is toxic in large quantities." Is there any literature on this I can remember reading somewhere that roasting the beans for an extended period removed the toxins.Graham1973 (talk) 12:27, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

I just had a look at the USDA documentation and found this:

The seeds and pods are poisonous. They reportedly contain cytisine, a quinolizidine alkaloid and nicotinic receptor agonist, which can be dangerous. However, researchers at Indiana State University have been unable to find experimental data verifying the presence of cytisine. A single major alkaloid was found to be present in many coffeetree plant parts. The alkaloid is thought to be neutralized in the roasting process. Hydrocyanic acid has also been suggested as a possible toxin. It can be destroyed by thoroughly heating the beans for at least three hours at 150˚C.

But they do not indicate which reports this information came from.Graham1973 (talk) 12:38, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Update: I did some digging through sources of sources and neither the claim of cytisine existing in the seeds is confirmed, nor is the one about roasting them for 3 hours at 65 C. These claims both seem to have come from long lines of authors citing papers citing other papers and misconstruing vague guesses as fact. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.85.253.8 (talk) 17:57, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

This paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.3987/COM-08-S(D)19

by Richard W Fitch of Indiana State U, reports that analysis of the Kentucky coffee tree found no cytisine. They did find other alkaloids, could cause gastrointestinal upset, but which break down with exposure to heat.

Forager & chef Alan Bergo found them edible without negative effect after boiling for twenty minutes, discarding the water, then boiling for another twenty minutes and discarding that water as well before incorporating them into a dish.

https://foragerchef.com/kentucky-coffee-beans/ 165.23.248.196 (talk) 06:10, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

Caffeine?

Do the seeds contain caffeine? Is that why it was chosen as a coffee substitute? Or is it just because of a similar taste? --Teabeard (talk) 22:23, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

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Espresso

The nurseries appear to often carry the "espresso" which I think is a male tree with no seed pods. it would be useful if more information on this was added by a coffee tree expert.

Latin gender

Correct specific epithet should be "dioica", as the Greek-rooted "Gymnocladus" is feminine. See https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/gymnocladus-dioica — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.245.215.201 (talk) 16:33, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

On what basis do you say Gymnocladus is feminine? It's a botanical coinage; words with the ending -us (second declension) can be either masculine or feminine, maybe depending on the whim of the coiner. It happens to be treated as masculine in many online references. Feminine would make sense though because many tree names ending in -us are feminine. — Eru·tuon

error in map

The map doesn't seem to indicate that Gymnocladus dioicus occurs in southern Ontario, and that this area is likely part of the natural range of the tree. Sbelknap (talk) 00:18, 7 June 2020 (UTC)