Simaroubaceae

c. 25 gen., trop. to warm-temp.

Ailanthus Desf.

3 species in Aust. (2 native, 1 naturalized); Qld, NSW, Vic.

*Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle

Tree up to 8 m high, suckering very freely and sometimes forming dense thickets. Leaves deciduous, imparipinnate, with 9–17 leaflets; leaflets ovate, 7–13 cm long, ± acuminate. Flowers polygamous, in panicles, c. 6 mm diam. Sepals 5. Petals 5, narrow-oblong, white. Stamens 10 in the male flowers, fewer in the bisexual flowers. Ovary 5-locular. Fruit a schizocarp; each mericarp winged, c. 3 cm long. Common around old habitation and escaped in some places. Introd. from Asia. Tree of Heaven