Description
This 99-ha site in Essex County is unusual for its three small stands of Kentucky Coffee-tress in the floodplain forest along the Canard River. Unlike most other natural populations of Kentucky Coffee-trees in Canada, both male and female trees are present here. Thus, this stand has the potential for reproduction from seeds. In other sites, Kentucky Coffe-tree spreads vegetatively from shoots, creating genetically identical clones.

The Canard River Kentucky Coffee-Tree Woods is also home to Red Mulberry, Trumpet Creeper, many rare sedges, and the rare Eastern Fox Snake.

Kentucky Coffee Tree

Kentucky Coffee-tree is one of the first native trees to drop its leaves in autumn and one of the last to leaf out in spring, thus displaying its striking silhouette of stout branches for much of the year. The Latin name, Gymnocladus, means "naked branch". Sweet-smelling flower clusters appear in June, and the fruits -- large reddish-brown pods -- hang from branches, often staying on the tree through winter.

Directions

The entrance and parking lot are on the 8th Concession of Anderdon, north of Texas Road. Bring your hiking boots and get ready to explore a rustic trail following the Canard River through a hickory woodland and low lying scrublands. Canard Valley Conservation Area hosts one of the only productive populations of Kentucky Coffee Tree, an endangered species in Canada. For more information about this site, visit the Essex Region Conservation Authority website for contact information.

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