Anyone care for a little coffee? Kentucky coffee tree, that is.

These unusual trees, with their sparse branches and chunky seed pods, are a fairly common site in parks and along streets in St. Charles and other suburban communities.

They’re planted with regularity, thanks to their tolerance of dry conditions and poor soils, as well as their valued open canopy, which allows light to pass through and enables grass to grow underneath. (But not, as I understand, because they’re a great substitute for coffee. Early settlers made due by grinding the seeds, but as soon as real coffee hit American shores, this practice was largely abandoned.)