![]() The national champion sassafras ─ located in Owensboro, Kentucky ─ is seventy-eight feet tall with a sixty-nine-foot spread. Most sassafras trees mature to a height of thirty to sixty feet with a spread of twenty-five to forty feet. In 1960, the Food and Drug Administration banned direct use of safrole in food although spices are still permissible. The fragrant bark and roots have been used to make tea and root beer but contain an oil called safrole, a proven carcinogen in mice and rats. Filé, a Creole spice used in gumbo, is made by grinding dried sassafras leaves. Sassafras trees thrive in moist, well-drained, acidic soil with full sun to partial shade but can also tolerate drier, rockier soil. The dark blue berries contrast beautifully to the bright red stems on which they grow. It can develop black leaf spot, and tent caterpillars can be problematic.Ĭommon across Kentucky, Native Sassafras is readily seeded by birds which love its fruit. Some trees further south may be susceptible to vascular wilt. Winter-hardy and adaptable, Kentucky persimmon trees suffer few pests and diseases. During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers boiled the seeds in substitution for coffee. You can also eat persimmons fresh or dried.Ĭooking oil can be extracted from persimmon seeds. Persimmons taste similar to dates and can be used in breads, cakes, puddings, and beverages. When the berry ripens in the fall, the skin turns wrinkly, and persimmons become edible to humans. The wood is very hard and has found use as golf clubs and flooring. Its interesting bark is thick, grey to black in color, and broken up in scaly, square blocks. Tolerating a range of pH levels, persimmons prefer moist, well-drained soil but can flourish in dry areas as well. Native Persimmon trees grow in Kentucky’s woodlands. This variety is a heavy producer ─ more than 150 fruits from a single tree! Atwood who served as college president from 1929 to 1962. In 2009, the horticulture program released ‘KSU-Atwood,’ a new pawpaw variety named after Rufus B. Kentucky State University, one of Kentucky’s land-grant universities, is home to the world’s only full-time pawpaw research program. The champion Kentucky pawpaw is in Letcher County. Most pawpaw trees grow fifteen to twenty feet in height but can reach up to forty feet if conditions are optimal. With some effort, you can grow pawpaws from seed. ![]() Wildlife such as birds, raccoons, and opossums enjoy the fruit, and zebra swallowtail butterfly larva feed on young pawpaw foliage. Pawpaw fruit surpass apples, grapes, and peaches in magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur. The fruit has high nutritional value, being an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, and protein. Pawpaws are commonly described as tasting like a mix of banana and mango or pineapple. ![]() Deer, however, can eat the leaves without problem.įound in wooded areas, the Kentucky native Pawpaw is the largest native fruit in North America. Black Cherry wood is hard, close-grained, and strong, making it popular in woodworking.įarmers should note that this tree’s bark, leaves, and twigs are poisonous to livestock. Mature trees often reach a height of fifty to sixty feet. It can tolerant a wide variety of soils and conditions, the exception being full shade. ![]() ![]() Birds help spread Black Cherry seeds, but it also readily self-seeds. The bitter-sweet fruit is popular for jelly and wine making. The Black Cherry Tree produces Kentucky’s largest cherries which ripen in August and September. Other names for the American Plum include American wild plum, Osage plum, river plum, thorn plum, wild yellow plum, red plum, August plum, and goose plum. Due to unreliability of fruit production in Kentucky, plums are usually only commercially grown as a secondary crop. Kentucky plums can be eaten fresh or using in baking and canning. The red to yellow fruit is popular with deer as well as humans. It grows wild across the eastern two-thirds of North America, forming thorny thickets that provide habitats for birds and other wildlife. The winter-hardy American Plum is a small tree, reaching a mature height of only fifteen feet. Kentucky native fruit trees are adapted to grow in our varying soil types and withstand our unpredictable weather. Local sources for these fruits, however, can be difficult to find due to their preference for a longer, warmer growing season. Apples, bananas, oranges, pears, peaches, and grapes ─ we eat these common fruits every day. ![]()
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