SIMAROUBACE.E— AILANTHUS FAMILY 



AILANTHUS 



Atldnth:ts glandulcsa. 

 AilaiitJtus means, it is said, Tree of Heaven. 



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

 eighteenth ccntur)'. A sturdy tree, fift)' to seventy feet high, 

 wliiclt produces an irregular and picturesque head. Grows rapidly ; 

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

 of many soils. 



Bark. — Brownish gray, with shallow fissures. Uranchlets stout., 

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

 bitter. 



M'ood. — Pale yellow; hard, fine-grained, satiny. Used in cab- 

 inet work. 



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



Li'inu-s. — Alternate, pinnately compound, one and one -half to 

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

 five inches long. 0\-ate-lanceolate, base truncate or heart-shaped, 

 unequal, entire, with one or two coarse blunt teeth at each side of 

 the base, acuminate Termin.d leaflet o\ate, toothed, sometimes 

 lobed, sometimes w.-mting. Feather-veined, midrib and primary 

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

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

 In autumn they tuin a bright clear yellow, or fall \vithout change. 

 Petioles, 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 much less so. 



Caly.x. — Five-lolied, lobes imbricate in bud. 



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

 imbricate in bud. 



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