AILÁNTHUS. Tree of Heaven.Ailanthus altÍssima (Miller) Swingle. Tree of Heaven. Stink Tree. (Ailanthus glandulosa Desfontaines). Plate 110. Medium sized trees with dark gray bark, thin, rough or fissured on old trees; branchlets very robust; twigs smooth; leaves compound and very large, especially on coppice shoots, usually about 4-6 dm. long, odd-pinnate, arranged spirally on the branchlets; leaflets 13-41, ovate-oblong, acuminate, oblique at base, entire or with a few blunt teeth toward the base, smooth or hairy when they unfold, becoming smooth at maturity, dark green above, lighter beneath; flowers appear in June in large terminal panicles, the staminate and pistillate on different trees; fruit maturing in autumn, consists of many light brown, twisted and broadly-winged samaras which are about 1 cm. wide and 4-5 cm. long.

Distribution.—A native of China. Introduced and spreading in cities, and into fields and woods in the southern part of the State. The most notable occurrence is in Jefferson County on the wooded bluffs of the Ohio River between Madison and Hanover.

Remarks.—Where the sugar and black maple can not be used for shade tree planting this tree should receive attention. It adapts itself to all kinds of soils, and to all kinds of growing conditions such as smoke, etc. The crown is of an oval or rounded type. It stands pruning and injury to trunk or branches quite well. It is practically free from all diseases and insect injury. The leaves appear late but they do not fall until the first killing frost when they are killed, and frequently practically all of the leaves will fall in one day. The staminate flowers exhale a fetid odor for a few days which is about the only objectionable feature in this tree. In order to obviate this objection, nurserymen are now offering for sale pistillate trees which have been grafted on common stock.

Plate 110