ARBORETUM NOTES So 
ZANTHOXYLACE. 
of June, 1848, I saw it at Florence, loaded with wae 
half-ripe seed-vessels, which are not unlike in 
general form to those of the Ash, and of a rich, 
red colour. The late Professor Targioni Tozzetti 
told me that the first specimen of this plant that 
was ever seen in Italy was in the Botanic Garden 
(‘‘Orto Botanico-agrario”’), at Florence, and that 
all the innumerable trees of the species now 
growing in the environs of that city, were raised 
from cuttings or seeds of that original tree. 
As this Ailantus is perfectly hardy with us in 
Suffolk (not having suffered at all from the terrible 
frost of 1860-61), there is probably a mistake 
in the statement made by De Candolle and Don, 
that it is a native of the Moluccas as well 
as of China. The Molucca plant may be a 
different but nearly allied species. 
(September, 1868). The large tree on the east 
side of the pleasure ground bears abundance of 
fruit this season. The large panicles of keys 
(samare), partly pale yellow and partly bright red, 
are very conspicuous among the deep green 
leaves. These fruits or samare have a superficial 
resemblance to those of the Ash, but are very 
different in the position of the seed. In the 
Ashes, the seed 1s at the base of the fruit; in the 
Ailantus it is near the middle, or rather beyond 
the middle, z.e., nearer to the apex than the base ; 
