Ailanthus 



33 



garden at Busbridge, near Godalming, and another in the Chelsea Physic Garden, 

 both raised from the seed sent by Pere d'Incarville. The tree is here first described 

 as Rhus sinense foliis alatis, foliolis oblongis acuminatis ad basin subrotundis et 

 dent at is} 



Tree of Heaven 



This name is often given to the tree in England, corresponding to the 

 German Gotterbaum. It is not the translation of any Chinese name, as has 

 often been erroneously stated. Desfontaines' original description occurred in 

 a rare book which has not been looked up by most writers on the tree. He 

 was well aware that the tree came from China, but in selecting a name for the 

 genus he took it from another species which he found figured in Rumphius' Hortus 

 Amboinensis, v. cap. 57, tab. 132. This species, left undescribed by Desfontaines, is 

 Ailanthus moluccana. Rumphius calls it arbor coeli, the equivalent of the native 

 name in the Amboyna language, Aylanto, which signifies "a tree so tall as to touch 

 the sky." " Tree of Heaven " is accordingly a translation of the name of 

 Rumphius, and is more properly applied to the tall tropical species than to Ailanthus 

 glandulosa, which does not attain any remarkable height. 



Cultivation 



The Ailanthus is easily propagated from seeds; but as trees bearing male 

 flowers are objectionable on account of their odour, it is preferable to propagate the 

 tree from root-cuttings obtained from female trees. In addition to the disagreeable 

 odour of the male flowers, there may be some foundation for the belief prevalent in 

 the United States that they cause stomachic disturbance and sore throat. The 

 pollen from staminate flowers, doubtless, occasions a kind of hay fever. 



The tree suckers freely from the root and to a great distance, as far as 100 feet 

 from the parent stem. At Kew these suckers frequently appear between the tiles 

 of the floor of one of the buildings near which an Ailanthus stands. At Oxford ^ a 

 root-sucker sent up a flowering shoot, and, what is more remarkable, produced 

 simple leaves, giving some support to the idea that plants with compound foliage 

 originated from those with simple leaves. The tree has extraordinary vitality. 

 Dr. Masters^ gives an account of a tree which was cut down, the stump being left 

 in the ground below the surface. Several years elapsed during which nothing was 

 observed, but after about ten years suckers were seen coming up in a gravel path 

 adjacent, and these, being traced, were found to issue from the old stump. 



Ailanthus reproduces itself freely from stools, and the coppice shoots thus 

 obtained are very vigorous. 



It was long supposed that Ailanthus would succeed even on the worst soils, 

 but this is an error. It only does well on permeable soils, which are fairly moist, 



' In the herbarium of the British Museum there is a specimen labelled Hort. Busbridge, which is undoubtedly from the 

 original tree. It was cut down in 1856 owing to the great amount of shade it produced near the house {Card. Chron. 1857, 

 p. 55). There is another specimen from Kew Gardens, 1779, showing that the tree was cultivated early there. 



1" Card. Chron. 1887, ii. 364. 

 I F 



