SWINGLE! CHINESE TREE OF HEAVEN 493 



(1768). Without a knowledge of Miller's previous papers it 

 might easily be assumed that this name was applied to the false 

 varnish tree of Kaempfer, which is cited as a synonym after a 

 very short description. However, a closer study shows unmis- 

 takably that the name is based on the plant grown in England 

 from the seeds sent by d'Incarville. The specific name altissi- 

 mum, explained in the English paraphrase as the " tallest Poison- 

 tree," is significant, since the wax tree of Japan (the spurious 

 varnish tree of Kaempfer, Rhus succedanea) is not taller than the 

 oriental lacquer tree, Rhus vernicifera DC, or the American 

 poison sumac, Rhus Vernix L., which two latter species were 

 held by Miller to be a single species, Toxicodendron pinnatis. 

 The note in the body of the text referring to the new species is 

 still more explicit. It reads as follows: "The tenth sort came 

 from China. This grows to a large size, sending out many 

 branches on every side, which are garnished with very long 

 winged leaves, each leaf having fourteen or sixteen pairs of lobes, 

 which stick close to the midrib; as this has not produced flowers 

 in England, so we are at a loss where to place it, but it is hardy 

 enough to live in the open air in winter. This propagates fast 

 enough by the many suckers sent out from the roots." 



There can be no longer any doubt that Miller is basing his 

 new species on the plants grown by him in England. The tall 

 growth, the very long leaves, the abundant suckering, all apply 

 to the Tree of Heaven and not to the Japanese wax tree. Further- 

 more, his doubts as to the botanical position of the new species, 

 which he puts as the last of the species of Toxicodendron, are 

 doubtless based on his memory of the unusual shape of the seeds 

 he planted in 1751 and would not be justified by anything to be 

 found in Kaempfer's description or figures. We must, then, 

 conclude that Miller's Toxicodendron altissimum was based on 

 the Tree of Heaven grown in England from seeds sent from China 

 by Pierre d'Incarville in 1751 and that the validity of his species 

 is in no way impaired by his citing of Kaempfer's Fdsi no Ki", 

 Arbor vernicifera spuria, etc., Amoen. Exot. 5: 794, as a syno- 

 nym, but merely proof that he persisted in his mistaken notion 

 that these two were the same species. 



