524 KETT EXGLAXD TREES IX "WIXTER. 



AILANTHUS 

 Tree of Heaven, Chinese Sumach. 



Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. 



HABIT — A small to g-ood 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 mots; the female trees 

 which are more frequently planted than the male often retaining the 

 clusters of winged fruit tliroughout the winter. 



BARK — Grayish, slightly roughened with fine light colored longitu- 

 dinal streaks in striking contrast to the darker background. 



TAVIGS — Stout, yellowish to reddish-brown covered with very short 

 fine velvety do'wn. 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-SCAIiS — absent. BUXDLE-SCARS — conspicuous, 

 often compound or curved, generally under a do2:en 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. 



FRI'lT — About 4 cm. long, winged, spirally twisted, the seed In the 

 center, borne in conspicuous clusters ■u"hich 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 flOT\"ers and producing fruit. ©"^'ing to 

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

 now seldom planted. 



COMPARISOXS — 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 Wal nut and Butternut it is ci ist inguished by its solitary buds 

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

 broad leaf-scars. 



DISTRIBI'TIOX — A native of China sparsely and locally naturalized 

 in southern Ontario, Xew England and suuthward; a very rapid grower, 

 thriving under the most unfavorable conditions of city existence. 



"WOOD — Light bro-wnish-yel low, with lighter sap'^'ood, soft, weak, 

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

 a.nd charc'oal, little used in this country. 



