524: NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



AILANTHUS 



Tree of Heaven, Chinese Sumach. 

 Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. 



HABIT A small to good sized tree 50-75 ft. in height with a trunk 

 diameter of 2-3 ft.; forming a wide flat-topped head with stout branch- 

 lets devoid of spray; freely sprouting from the roots; the female trees 

 which are more frequently planted than the male often retaining the 

 clusters of winged fruit throughout the winter. 



BARK Grayish, slightly roughened with fine light colored longitu- 

 dinal streaks in striking contrast to the darker background. 



TWIGS Stout, yellowish to reddish-brown covered with very short 

 fine velvety down, or smooth, rather rank-smelling when crushed, older 

 twigs often shedding the down in the form of a thin skin and exposing 

 very fine light longitudinal striations below. LENTICELS scattered, 

 pale, somewhat longitudinally elongated becoming on older growth con- 

 spicuous more or less diamond-shaped cracks. PITH wide, chocolate 

 brown. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, large, conspicuous, 

 heart-shaped. STIPULE-SCARS absent. BUNDLE-SCARS conspicuous, 

 often compound or curved, generally under a dozen in number, forming 

 a curved line. 



BUDS Terminal bud absent, lateral buds relatively small generally 

 under 4 mm. long, half-spherical, reddish-brown, downy. BUD-SCALES 

 thick, the 2 opposite lateral scales generally alone showing. 



FRUIT About 4 cm. long, winged, spirally twisted, the seed in the 

 center, borne in conspicuous clusters which frequently remain on tree 

 during winter. The species is dioecious, there being male trees bear- 

 ing only staminate flowers and hence producing no fruit and female 

 trees bearing only pistillate flowers and producing fruit. Owing to 

 the vile smelling character of the staminate flowers, the male trees are 

 now seldom planted. 



COMPARISONS The Ailanthus in its stout twigs resembles somewhat 

 the Kentucky Coffee Tree but its buds are solitary and not sunken, its 

 pith is brown rather than salmon-colored and its bark is not ridged as 

 is the bark of the Kentucky Coffee Tree. From the stout-twigged 

 Black Walnut and Butternut it is distinguished by its solitary buds 

 and continuous pith; from the Staghorn and Smooth Sumachs by its 

 broad leaf-scars. 



DISTRIBUTION A native of China sparsely and locally naturalized 

 In southern Ontario, New England and southward; a very rapid grower, 

 thriving under the most unfavorable conditions of city existence. 



WOOD Light brownish-yellow, with lighter sapwood, soft, weak, 

 rather open-grained; in Europe used in the manufacture of woodenware 

 and charcoal, little used in this country. 



