Antler tree
| Antler tree | ||||||||||||
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Antler tree ( Gymnocladus dioicus ) |
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| Gymnocladus dioicus | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) K. Koch |
The antler tree ( Gymnocladus dioicus ) is a species of plant from the genus antler trees ( Gymnocladus ) in the subfamily of the carob family (Caesalpiniaceae) within the legume family (Fabaceae). It comes from eastern North America .
description
Vegetative characteristics
The Kentucky antler tree grows as a large tree reaching heights of 18 to 30 meters and crown diameters of 15 to 18 meters. Freestanding specimens branch out just above the ground and form a round crown, while in the closed stand , straight, less branched stems form. The thick bark is gray or gray-brown, it is coarse, scaly and furrowed irregularly. The wood is heavy, the narrow sapwood is light yellow, the heartwood is reddish brown. Especially in humus soil, adult trees develop numerous runners through root brood, which can also excavate stone slabs and paths.
The leaves are double-pinnate with five to nine pairs of pinnate, of which the lowest one or two are simply pinnate, the others in turn. A final, single terminal leaflet (leaflet) is rarely formed. The entire sheet is 30 to 90 inches long and 50 to 60 inches wide. The individual, almost sessile and entire-margined leaflets are ovate to elliptical, 5 to 8 inches long and they are pointed to pointed and rounded to wedge-shaped at the base. The leaves are sprouting later than in other deciduous trees, the leaves are reddish in sprouting, the autumn color is yellow.
Generative characteristics
The tree has no fine branches. Hence the scientific generic name Gymnocladus is derived from the Greek words gymnos for naked and cladus for branch. The German name antler tree describes that the coarse branches of the sparse crown look like antlers when they are leafless.
Terminal, pyramidal grapes are formed, the male ones being only half the size. The flowering time is in early summer. Gymnocladus dioicus is dioecious separate sexes ( diocesan ), which is also referred to by the scientific epithet dioicus . The functionally unisexual, relatively small, shorter or longer stalked flowers are fragrant and star-shaped. They are fivefold with a double flower envelope. The funnel-shaped, fine-haired calyx is greenish-violet, reddish with narrow and elongated, pointed lobes. The overgrown crown has long, narrow and elongated, fleshy and fine-haired, whitish inside and greenish to reddish outside, alternating with the calyx lobes. The five short and five long, free stamens sit alternately at the top of the corolla tube on the throat. The elongated, hairy ovary is upper constant with conical stylus with capitate, zweilappiger scar . There is a discus . The male flowers may have a pistillode and the female flowers may have staminodes.
When ripe, the brown, flat, woody-leathery, mostly non-opening and pointed legumes are 15 to 25 centimeters long and 2.5 to 5 centimeters wide. They stick to the tree for a long time and contain three to eight seeds that are coated in a sticky, sweetish pulp. The very hard, flattened and rounded, dark brown, smooth seeds are about 1.5-1.9 centimeters long.
distribution
The distribution area of Gymnocladus dioicus includes the south of Ontario , Canada in North America and extends in the USA from Kentucky and western Pennsylvania to Kansas , Nebraska and South Dakota as well as the northern area of Louisiana as the southern limit of distribution. Within this distribution area, the tree can be found mainly in river valleys and floodplain areas. In the northeastern distribution area, groves of the antler tree probably go back to conscious planting by North American Indians . The antler tree is nowhere common and only found in small groups or individual specimens in deciduous forests.
use
The heavy, durable wood of the antler tree, because it cracks easily, has to be carefully dried, but is then easy to work and polish.
Gymnocladus dioicus is very heat and drought tolerant and is therefore often planted as a street tree in the Midwest .
In American , the antler tree is called the Kentucky Coffeetree . This name results from the fact that the seeds were previously roasted and coffee was brewed from them. However, the seeds also contain ingredients that are slightly toxic to humans. Symptoms of poisoning can occur after consuming large amounts of this coffee substitute.
The seeds and other parts of the plant are very poisonous when fresh, but the poison is destroyed when heated. The same poison, cytisine , may come. a. also in the laburnum , the gorse and the pagoda tree .
supporting documents
- John M. Row, Wayne Geyer: Kentucky Coffeetree. (PDF; 301 kB) In: Plant Guide. US Department of Agriculture, 2007, accessed November 17, 2009 .
- Marilena Idžojtić: Dendrology: Cones, Flowers, Fruits and Seeds. Academic Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0-444-64175-5 , p. 304.
Web links
- Gymnocladus dioicus images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
- NCRS: USDA Plants Profile Gymnocladus dioicus
- Interactive Distribution Map for Gymnocladus dioicus
- Gymnocladus dioicus at Useful Temperate Plants.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Würzburg Natural Science Association: Geweihbaum, Gymnocladus dioicus. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .