We have these spindly, ungainly bare shrubs outside the window; now that they’re starting to bud, I’m pretty sure they are Ailanthus altissima, commonly known as tree of heaven.
This is not good news. Originally from China, tree of heaven is considered one of the worst invasive plant species in Europe and North America. Its evil reputation has been compounded by its role in the life cycle of the also destructive and invasive spotted lanternfly. It is alleopathic (suppressing the growth of other plants), and is very difficult to eradicate, as it readily sprouts from both seeds and root fragments.
The 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith uses the tree of heaven as an analogy for the ability to thrive in a difficult environment. She writes:
There’s a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree which struggles to reach the sky. It grows in boarded up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps. It grows up out of cellar gratings. It is the only tree that grows out of cement. It grows lushly…survives without sun, water, and seemingly earth. It would be considered beautiful except that there are too many of it.
If that’s what we’ve got here, I can declare: not happy, Jan!
