174 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



The Ailantus Tree. Ailantus. 



JVat. Ord. XanthoxylacesB. Lin. Syst. Polygamia, Monoecia. 



Ailanto is the name of this tree in the Moluccas, and is said 

 to signify Tree of Heaven ; an appellation probably bestowed 

 on account of the rapidity of its growth, and the great height 

 which it reaches in the East Indies, its native country. "When 

 quite young it is not unlike a sumac in appearance ; but the 

 extreme rapidity of its growth, and the great size of its pin- 

 nated leaves, four or five feet long, soon distinguish it from 

 that shrub. During the first half dozen years, it outstrips 

 almost any other deciduous tree in vigour of growth, and 

 we have measured leading stems which had grown twelve 

 or fifteen feet in a single season. In four or five years, it 

 therefore forms quite a bulky head, but after that period it ad- 

 vances more slowly, and in 20 years would probably be 

 overtopped by the poplar, the plane, or any other fast growing 

 tree. There are, as yet, no specimens in this country more 

 than 70 feet high ; but the trunk shoots up in a fine column, 

 and the head is massy and irregular in outline. In this coun- 

 try it is planted purely for ornament ; but we learn that in 

 Europe its wood has been applied to cabinet-work ; for which, 

 from its close grain, and bright satin-like lustre, it is well 

 adapted.* The male flowers only, (as far as we can learn,) 

 have been produced here : they form greenish-yellow pani- 

 cles, and are scarcely ornamental. In England, Loudon 

 states that it has ripened seeds at White-Knights, from which 

 plants have been raised. 



In New- York and Philadelphia, the Ailantus is more gen- 

 erally known by the name of the Celestial tj-ee, and is much 



* Annales de la Sociele d' Horticulture. 



