TREE OF HEAVEN Ailanthus altissima Swingle
THIS tree is a native of China but planted in Illinois because of its tropical foliage. It has escaped and become naturalized. It is a handsome, rapid-growing, short-lived tree, attaining a height of 40 to 60 feet, and a trunk diameter of 2 to 3 feet. Its crown is spreading, rather loose and open. The twigs are smooth and thick with a large reddish-brown pith. The winter buds are small, globular and hairy, placed just above the large leaf-scars.
TREE OF HEAVEN
Twig, one-half natural size. Leaf and fruit, one-fourth natural size.
The leaves are alternate, pinnately compound and one to three feet long. The leaflets number from 11 to 41, are smooth, dark green above, paler beneath, turning a clear yellow in autumn.
The flowers appear soon after the leaves are full grown, on different trees, borne in large upright panicles. They are small yellow-green in color with 5 petals and 10 stamens. The staminate flowers have a disagreeable odor.
The fruit, ripening in October but remaining on the tree during the winter, is a one-seeded samara, spirally twisted, borne in crowded clusters.
The tree of heaven is useful for landscape planting, succeeding in all kinds of soils and all kinds of growing conditions. It makes a rapid showing and is practically free from all diseases and insect injury.
