SIMAROUBACEJE— AILANTHUS FAMILY 



AILANTHUS 



Aildnthus glaiiditlosa. 

 Ailanthus means, it is said, Tree of Heaven. 



Native of China, introduced into Europe about the middle of the 

 eighteenth century. A sturdy tree, fifty to seventy feet high, 

 which produces an irregular and picturesque head. Grows rapidly ; 

 roots run near the surface ; suclcers freely ; short-lived. Tolerant 

 of ni.my soils. 



iiarX'. — Brownish gray, with shallow fissures. Branchlets stout. 

 clumsy, brownish green, then reddish brown, finally dark brown ; 

 bitter. 



Wood. — Pale yellow ; hard, fine-grained, satiny. Used in cab- 

 inet work. 



Winter Buds. — Brown, small, flattened, obtuse. 



Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately compound, one and one - half to 

 liree feet long. Leaflets twenty-one to forty-one, from three to 



J inches long. Ovate-lanceolate, base truncate or heart-shaped, 



iL-qual, entire, with one or two coarse blunt teeth at each side of 

 ii ■ base, acuminate. Terminal leaflet ovate, toothed, sometimes 

 loljed- sometimes wanting. Feather-veined, midrib and primary 

 veins proniment. They come out of the bud a bronze reddish 

 green, wlien full grown are dark green above, paler green beneath. 

 In autumn they turn a bright clear yellow, or fall without change. 

 Petinlfs, smooth, terete, swollen at base, often reddish. Stipules 

 wanting. 



Flowers. — June, when leaves. are full grown. Polygamo-dicecious, 

 small, yellowish green, borne in upright panicles. Staminate flow- 

 ers ill scented. Pistillate inuch less so. 



Calyx. — Five-lobed, lobes imbricate in bud. 



Corolla. — Petals five, greenish, oblong, acute, hairy, hypogynous, 

 imbricate in bud. 



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