Gymnocladus dioicus (Bruce Marlin)

By Emmett Caruso

At the University of Vermont, by the Davis Center, there is a tree with dark gray bark and smooth, green compound leaves. For up to six months out of the year, it stands bare, seemingly dead, only growing new leaves after all of the other trees have long turned green again. While it may not look particularly remarkable or out of place, this Kentucky Coffeetree specimen is far from the southern swampy soil in which it thrives, and is a regional anomaly that may owe the expansion of its range to prehistoric megafauna and Native American gambling habits. What follows is what I hope to be a detailed, comprehensive introduction to this fascinating out-of-state resident.