THE GLANDULOUS-LEAVED AILANTUS. 



Synonymes. 



Atlantux, gtanauiosa, 



Ailantus procera, 

 Aylante glanduleux, Tilou, 

 Drusiger Gotterbaum, 

 Ailanto, Albero di Paradiso, 

 Ailantus, Tree of Heaven, 



Desfontaines, Actes, etc., Paris, 1786. 



De Candolle, Prodromus. 



LocDON, Arboretum Brilannicum. 



Salisbury, Prodromus. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain and Anglo- America. 



Ensraringi. L'H6riiier, Stirpes, pi. 84 ; Pii Hamcl, Trait6 des Arbres et Arbustes, !., pi. 35 ; Loudon, Arboretum Britanni- 

 euin, I., figure 159, et v., pi. 60 ; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves impari-pinnate ; the leaflets coarsely toothed at the base j the teeth glanda- 

 lous on the under side. De CandoUe, Prodromus. 



Desa^iption. 



HE Ailantus glan- 

 dulosa is a decid- 

 uous tree of the 

 first rank, grow- 

 ing to a height of 

 _ __ _ sixty feet and up- 

 wards. Its straight, erect, cohunn-like trunk, 

 from two to three feet in diameter, its gigantic 

 boughs and shoots, clothed with large, pendulous 

 leaves, give it a noble appearance, and seem to 

 justify the oriental appellation, " Tree of Hea- 

 ven." The leaves are from one and a half to 

 six feet in length, pinnated, with an odd one, 

 and having leaflets with coarse, glandular teeth 

 near the base. On the first approach of frost, 

 the leaflets begin to fall, without having previ- 

 ously shown much change of colour, displaying, 



in this respect, a striking difference from the leaves of most species of rhus, to 

 which those of this tree bear a general resemblance. The flowers, which appear 

 in June and July, occur in rather large, compact panicles, of a whitish-green 

 colour, and exhale a disagreeable odour. The keys, or fruit, resemble those of 

 the ash, but are much smaller and more numerous. In some years, the tree is 

 said to bear only male flowers; and L'Heritier states that only twice in ten 

 years it bore both male and female blossoms at the same time, in France. In 

 his time, it had produced fruit in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, and in the 

 botanic garden at Leyden ; but in both cases it was immature. It has since, 

 however, produced perfect fruit, from which plants have been raised. It has 

 also ripened seeds at White Knight's, near Reading, in England. At Philadel- 

 phia and New York, the seeds of this tree ripen freely in October, and plants are 

 raised from them in abundance. 



Geography and History. The Ailantus glandulosa is a native of the northern 

 provinces of China, more particularly in the neighbourhood of Pekin. Mr. Lou- 

 don states that seeds were first sent to England, to the Royal Society of London, 



