From: pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Name that perennial (long and chatty)
Summary: I think it's Ailanthus altissima
Date: 22 Aug 92 00:41:04 GMT
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.

In article <1538@lysator.liu.se> ceci@lysator.liu.se (Ceci Henningsson) writes:
>-It looks like a healthy bush, maybe 180 cm high.
>-No, I haven't seen any flowers on it, nor any flower buds. It's
>pretty boring, actually.
>- Yes, to start with it is oppositifolius. The leafs are pinnate with
>an odd leaflet at the top of the compound leaf. Typically there are
>5-15 pairs of leaflets in one leaf. Below the leafpair, there is a
>pair of bigger leaves. The individual leaflets are serrated and
>oblong, ending in a point. It is a typical Dicotyledones.
>	The stem is yellow-green on this year's shots and it has
>lightbrown spots. Older, lignified stems are lightbrown with vertical
>lighter ridges and light spots. There are no flowers and the plant has
>no particular smell.
>-Yes. The leaflets are 6-8 cm without their stalks. The leaflet stalks
>are about 2 cm long. The compound leaves are up to 60 cm long. The
>bigger leaves below the axils are 15 cm long. Here is a schematic
>-First, I thought it was an elder bush. But it doesn't really look
>like the normal elders we have in the area, the Sambuccus nigra. So
>now I don't know. It doesn't seem to be in my flora. <shrugs>

Well, I'm really going out on Shirley McClain's Limb here as this is only
a wild guess, but I really think you are talking about the famous Tree
of Heaven, famous for it's role in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". To know
for sure you'd probably have to observe it flowering. Yes, I am sewious.
Although it is not an exact fit, most plants are highly variable.

Ref: Natural History of Vacant Lots, Vessel & Wong, ISBN:0-520-05390-7:

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima): Shrub or tree, may reach 20m in
height; leaves 4-6 dm long, pinnately compound with 12-25 leaflets, each
leaflet with several coarse teeth at its base; leaves, especially from
male trees, have a disagreeable odor when crushed; flowers small and
greenish and then changing to a reddish brown. Native of China.
Distribution: Widespread but not adapted well to very wet, very dry, or
very cold areas. Thought to have been brought in by the Chinese during
the 1849 gold mining days; plants commonly found around old dwellings of
San Andreas, Angel's Camp, Columbia, and other Mother Lode towns. Spread
over much of California; common in vacant lots and waste areas.
Comments: Considered the one "tree-weed", for it persists in most urban
areas where no other trees can survive. The seeds sprout along sides of
buildings, in cracks of walks and paving, in waysides, and in vacant
lots. The spreading roots can also sprout new shoots. Ants have been
found associated with some specimens. Some people report a dermatitus
from handling the leaves. This is the famed subject of "A Tree Grows in
Brooklyn" and it is found in numerous other areas of the US as well. A
number of writers report that the tree was well established in the
vicinity of NY and Philadelphia by 1700. This suggests that the plant
came from England, which probably first obtained specimens from China
and India, where Ailanthus is commonly found as native species.
Newsgroups: rec.gardens