Cladrastis kentukea

Kentucky yellowwood or American yellowwood is in the pea or Fabaceae family and is native to the Southeastern United States, with a restricted range from western North Carolina west to eastern Oklahoma, and from southern Missouri and Indiana south to central Alabama. It is quite rare in the wild.

The species was formerly called Cladrastis lutea.

• Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, 20—30 cm long, with 5—11 (mostly 7-9) sub-oppositely arranged leaflets (noteworthy ID feature), each leaflet elliptic to ovate with an acute apex, 6—13 cm long and 3—7 cm broad. The smooth, deep green foliage, turns rich buttery yellow (and sometimes orange) in the fall.
• Flowers are fragrant, white, produced in racemes or panicles 15–40 cm long.
• Fruit is a legume, smooth, flattened brown pod 10 cm long and tipped with the remnants of the styles.
• Twigs are stout and zigzagged.
• Bark is silvery, smooth and beech-like.