All. AN l HI s OK THE TREE 01 HE w i:\ 

 AUanthu* glandulosa Desf. 



Th« Ailantluis Family 

 M \R\ B ii BA1 



Habit and Habitat: A tall, hair and rapidly-growing tree reach- 

 ing a height of 10-50 feet and a trunk diameter of 1-2 feet, wit! 

 eading, open and loose crown composed <>f a few large, club-like 

 and very coarse spray. This tree is planted in almost every 



Conceivable situation and it does well everywhere except in the \ 

 driest and I I d sites. It gTOWS well in the .-hade or in open sun- 



light. 



Leaves and Bud>: The leaves are alternate and pinnately com- 

 pound, 1-3 feet long-, with 11-41 leaflets, i. e. 5-20 pairs of lateral leaf- 

 lets and one terminal leaflet, leaflets 2-G inches long and about one-third 



wide, tapering gradually to a more or less slender point, each with 

 one or two coarse glandular teeth at base, smooth or velvety, dark 



en above, pale beneath, ill-smelling when crushed. The leaves are 

 attached to the twigs by the very broad bases of the petioles so that 

 when they fall, enormous leaf-scars are left which are more or less 

 heart-shaped and sometimes an inch broad. The buds are small, globular, 

 brown and downy. There are no terminal buds. 



Flowers and Fruits: The flowers usually appear about the middle 

 of June at Lincoln after the leaves are full grown, they are very small, 

 yellowish-green and are borne in large upright, open clusters 6-15 inches 

 in height, the staminate are very ill-scented. There are 5 sepals, 5 petals 

 and 10 stamens in each flower, the staminate flowers do not have pistils. 

 The fruits are produced in dense clusters and mature in late summer or 

 early fall and each is composed of a dry twisted wing about 2 inches 

 long and \ 2 inch wide in the center of which is a single dry seed. When 

 young the fruits are yellow-green, at maturity they are straw colored. 

 They often persist upon the trees after the leaves have fallen. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: The bark on the twigs is usually reddish- 

 brown or sometimes faintly pinkish, becoming grayish and shallowly 

 and distantly fissured on the older branches and main trunk. The t\vie> 

 are often more or less velvety, whitish or downy. The wood is pale 

 yellow, satiny, coarse, soft, weak, and of very little value. 



Distribution in the State: This tree is a native of China but has 

 been naturalized in many parts of the earth where it escapes from culti- 

 vation along roadsides and in fields and gardens where it often spreads 

 extensively by root suckers. It also seeds freely in some localities, as 

 in Nebraska. 



Remarks: This is one of our most beautiful ornamental trees be- 

 cause of its wealth of fern-like, dark-green foliage. The leaves are 

 very bright and fresh in all kinds of weather from early summer and 

 they are retained in the fall long after the leaves have fallen from many 

 of our native trees. This tree in the winter condition is sometimes 

 confused with catalpa, but there are so many points of difference be- 

 tween the two trees that there is really no excuse for confusing them. 



l; 35— 



