494 swingle: Chinese tree of heaven 



In September. 17S2. Friedrich Ehrhart. in the course of a 

 journey in Holland, visited the commercial nurseries of a Mr. 

 Brakel in the outskirts of Utrecht just in front of the Kermis- 

 Waterpoortje. Here he found many rare plants, among them, 

 growing in the open, a tall tree looking something like Juglans 

 nigra and having a trunk a foot thick. He named it Rhus 

 Cacodendron,* basing his diagnosis on leaf characters alone, as he 

 had no flowers or fruits. His article was dated Herrenhausen, 

 23 Nov., 1782. 



In an article dated Herrenhausen. 4 Aug.. 17S3. published in 

 17SS. Ehrhart reprinted his diagnosis of Rhus Cacodendron. which 

 he calls the large-leaved sumac {"Der grossblattrige Sutnac"), 9 

 adding that it is a native of 'Xorth America and occurs in the 

 Dutch gardens and also at Harbke. 



In the Memoir es de V Academic Roy ale des Sciences for 1786, 

 published at Paris in 17SS. Rene Louiche Desfontaines described 

 the Tree of Heaven as Ailanthus gla?idulosa. new genus and new 

 species. This excellent description, accompanied by a good cop- 

 per plate drawn by L. Freret. is based on a fertile tree growing, 

 presumably at Paris, in the garden of M. le Monnier, first physi- 

 cian-in-ordinary to the king. 



In the following year. 1789, William Ait on in Ms Hortus Keiven- 

 recognized Rhus Cacodendron as a synonym of Ailanthus gland- 

 ulosa Desf.. in spite of Ehrhart 's error in assigning a Xorth 

 American origin to his species. Up to within a very few years 

 Desfontaines' name has been almost universally applied to the 

 Tree of Heaven, but recently (In 1912) Ehrhart ? s older name, 

 Rhus Cacodendron, was taken up by Schinz and Thellung and 

 transferred to the genus Ailanthus. as A. Cacodendron, on the 

 supposition that this was the oldest valid name for this species. 

 As has been shown above, this is not the case, there being at least 

 two older trivial names applied to this species. 



! Ehrhart, Friedrich. Meine Reise nach der Graff-shaft Bentheim, und von 

 da rtach Holland, nebst der Retour nach Herrenha Hannoverisches Magazin, 



21: 225-226 No. 15. Feb. 21), 1783; reprinted in Ehrhart. Beitrage zur Natur- 

 kunde, etc. 2: 111. 1788. 



9 Ehrhart. Friedrich. Be?timmung einiger Baume und Strduche aus unsern 

 Lustgebuschen. Beitrage zux Xaturkunde, 3: 20. 1788. 



