490 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICKTUM. 



PART III. 



high. In Saxony, at Wdrlitz, 45 years planted, and 25 ft. high ; and the variety P. t pentaphylla, 

 34 years planted, and 15 ft. high. In Austria, at Vienna, in the University Botanic Garden 15 ft 

 high. In Bavaria, at Munich, in the Botanic Garden, 24 years planted, and 18 ft. high. 



Commercial Statistics. Plants, in London, cost Is. 6d. each, and seeds \s. a 

 packet; at Bollwyller, plants 15 francs a hundred; at New York, 25 cents 

 each, and seeds 1 dollar a quart. 



App. i. Other ligneous Species of Ptelea, hardy and half-hardy. 



it P. monophljUa Lam. has simple ovate lanceolate leaves, and grows to the height of 4ft. in Caro- 

 lina ; but, though hardy, it has not yet been introduced. 



3fe P. pentdndra Moc. is a native of Mexico, where it forms a shrub from 6 ft. to 10ft. in height ; 

 P. podocdrpa Dec. is a Mexican shrub of the same size ; and P. ovata Lour, is a simple-leaved spe- 

 cies, a native of Cochin-China. These, if introduced, would probably prove hardy or half-hardy. 



GENUS III. 



AILA'NTUS Desf. THB AILANTO. Un. Syst. Polygamia Monce x cia. 



Identification. Desf. Act. Acad. Par., 1786., p. 263. ; Dec. Prod., 2 p. 88. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 807. 



Synonymes. 7?hus Ehrh., Ellis, and Mcench ; Verne du Japon, Fr. ; Gotterbaum, Ger. 



Derivation. Ailanto is the name of Ailantus glandulosa Desf. in the Moluccas. It was long con- 

 sidered as a species of /ttius, whence the French name; and the meaning of the aboriginal word 

 being, it is said, Tree of Heaven, hence the German name, Gotterbaum, Tree of the Gods. 



*E 1. A. GLANDULO^SA Desf. The glandulous-leaved Ailanto. 



Identification. Desf. Act. Acad. Par., 1786, p. 263. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 89. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 807. 



procera Sal. Prod., p. 271. ; .Rhus hypselodendron Mcench ; R. cacodendron Ehrh. ; 

 7w; Aylanthe glanduleux, Fr. ; driisiger Gotterbaum, Ger. 



Synonymes. A. 



R. sinense Ellis 

 Engravings. L'Herit. Stirp., t. 84. ; Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 108. 



and the plate of the tree in our Second Volume. 



N. Du Ham., 1. t. 35. j our fig. 159.; 



Spec. Char., %c. Leaves impari-pinnate ; the 

 leaflets coarsely toothed at the base ; the 

 teeth glandulous on the under side. (Dec. 

 Prod. y i. p. 89.) A deciduous tree of the 

 first rank, introduced from China in 1751, 

 and growing to the height of 60 ft. or up- 

 wards. In some years, the tree is said to 

 bear only male flowers; and L'Heritier 

 states that only twice in 10 years it bore 

 both male and female flowers at the same 

 time in France. In his time, it had pro- 

 duced fruit in the Jardin des Plantes at 

 Paris, and in the Botanic Garden at Ley- 

 den ; but in both cases it was immature. 

 It has since, however, produced perfect 

 fruit, from which plants have been raised. 

 It has also ripened fruit at White Knights in England. The flowers, which 

 appear in August, are in large, upright, rather compact panicles, of a whitish 

 green colour, and exhale a disagreeable odour. The fruit resembles the 

 keys of the ash, but is smaller. The leaves are from 3 ft. to 6 ft. in 

 length ; those produced by vigorous suckers, in favourable situations, attain- 

 ing the latter dimensions. The tree grows with great rapidity for the first 

 10 or 12 years, producing shoots from 3 ft. to 6 ft. in length at first, and 

 attaining the height of 15ft. or 20ft. in 5 or 6 years in favourable situ- 

 ations. Afterwards its growth is much slower. The wood is of a fine 

 grain ; it has a satiny aspect, and is hard, and well fitted for the purposes 

 of cabinet-making. The tree has a noble appearance when clothed with 

 leaves ; and its gigantic boughs and shoots, and its straight, erect, thick 



