The trees on the UMass Amherst campus are named the Frank A Waugh Arboretum and the link leads to an ArcGIS application that shows the location and identification of every tree (as of 2014). This is a great resource for being able to identify species, especially the ones that are not native to the region, like the Kentucky Coffee Tree.
Figure 1. Gymnocladus leaf. Upper side of leaf is on left.
The main characteristic I use to recognize a coffee tree is that the leaflets are rotated away from the plane of the leaf itself. Most compound leaves appear oriented in a single plane.
This leaf is bi-pinnately compound. The first two branches are single leaflets, then two with ~8 leaflets, then branches with more (11 and 13). The branches are not evenly distributed: some are almost opposite, the last two are opposite. The leaflets, however are alternate.
The leaf appears almost pristine. There are several small areas of damage, the look to be mechanical damage of the leaf. There doesn't appear to be any evidence of phytophagy.
The stem has a waxy coating that wiped off when I carried the stem by the end.
- Steven D. Brewer's blog
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