Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Ailanthus altissima
Common name
Tree of heaven
Family
Simaroubaceae
Where found
Forest, woodland, grassy areas, roadsides, old gardens, along streams, and in gullies. Widespread but no records from Kosciuszko National Park..
Notes
Introduced deciduous shrub or tree to 25 m tall, suckering, forming dense thickets. Bark slightly rough. Younger stems smooth or pitted, hairy, soon becoming hairless, with prominent lenticels and leaf scars. Leaves have an unpleasant smell when rubbed. Leaves alternating up the stems, 20-100 cm long, compound, with 9-41 leaflets each 4-15 cm long, 15-60 mm wide, surfaces hairy becoming hairless, margins sometimes entire, but usually with 1-2 teeth or lobes near the base, a gland at the tip of each tooth/lobe produccing the unpleasant smell, tips pointed. Male and female flowers on different plants. Male flowers with a pungent smell. Flowers white to greenish or greenish yellow, with 5 petals each 2-4 mm long, in broad branched clusters 6-60 cm long, at the tips of the branches. Flowers Spring to Summer. 'Seeds' initially yellowish or greenish, ripening to orange or reddish pink to reddish brown, with a single wing. Fruits Summer to Winter.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW. Pest plant ACT. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Ailanthus~altissima (accessed 2 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
