32 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



into Europe it was supposed to be the species of Rhus which yields Japanese varnish 

 or lacquer; and even now it is often called in France Vernis du Japan. The tree, 

 however, is unknown wild in Japan, and is seldom or never cultivated there. The 

 Chinese in classical times were well acquainted with Ailanthus, which they called 

 cKu, a word explained as meaning "useless wood," as it was in ancient times (as 

 well as at present) used only for firewood.* Popularly Ailanthus and Cedrela are 

 now called cfiun trees, the former being distinguished as the "stinking ch'un," and 

 the latter as the "fragrant ch'un," 



In China the Ailanthus grows to be a large tree; but the timber is little valued. 

 The root-bark is used, as a strong infusion, in cases of dysentery.' In the Pharma- 

 ceutical Museum, London, there are several specimens of barks bearing the Chinese 

 name for Ailanthus ; but these are doubtfully referable to that species ; and the whole 

 subject of the use of Ailanthus bark for dysentery requires further investigation.* 



In the Kew Museum there are specimens of silkworms {Atiacus Cynthia, Drury), 

 which feed on the leaves of Ailanthus in North China ; and there are also samples 

 of the " wild silk " produced, which is made into one kind of pongee. This species 

 of silkworm was introduced into France in 1858; and large numbers of Ailanthus 

 trees were planted with a view to the feeding of the silkworms. The winter of 

 1879 killed off all the silkworms; and apparently the cultivation of the tree in 

 France for the production of silk is a thing of the past. 



In the Kew Museum there is a note attached to a specimen of the wood of 

 Ailanthus glandulosa from Tuscany, which says that the bark yields a resinous 

 juice ; but there is no account of such a resin from Chinese sources ; and exudation 

 from the bark has not been observed in trees growing in England or in France. 

 In India, however, the resin, called muttee-pal, is derived from the bark o{ Ailanthus 

 malabarica, and is used both as an incense and as a remedy for dysentery. 



Introduction ^ 



Ailanthus glandulosa was first introduced from China in 1751. In Hortus 

 Collinsonianus* p. 2, a memorandum is copied which was left by Collinson, 

 stating :"A stately tree raised from seed from Nankin in 1751, sent over by 

 Father d'Incarville, my correspondent in China, to whom I sent many seeds in 

 return ; he sent it to me and the Royal Society." P^re d'Incarville'* was a French 

 Jesuit missionary, who died at Peking in 1757. In Trans. Phil. Soc, 1757, a 

 paper is printed, which was read on 25th November 1756, being a letter from John 

 Ellis to P. C. Webb ; and it mentions two trees which were growing, one in Webb's 



' In the Sku-Ching, it is said : " In the ninth month they make firewood of the cVu tree." 



* On the therapeutical value of this drug, see articles by Drs. Dudgeon and Robert, in London Pharmaceutical Journal, 

 ser. iii. iv. 890, and vii. 372. 



3 The bark has been found to be an excellent vermifuge in cases of tapeworm. See Hetet, in U.S. Dispens, 

 15th edition, 1564. 



* Compiled by L. W. Dillwyn, and published at Swansea in 1843. 



In Cibot, M/m. Cone. Chinois, ii. 1777, 583, d'Incarville's " M^moire sur les vers i. soie sauvage" is published, in 

 which he speaks of the Ailanthus as K\\e frlne puant (stinking ash) of North China. 



