Ailanthus altissima (PROSEA)

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Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction
List of species


Ailanthus altissima (Miller) Swingle

Protologue: Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6: 495 (1916).

Synonyms

  • Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. (1786),
  • Ailanthus vilmoriniana Dode (1904).

Vernacular names

  • Tree of heaven (En)
  • Vietnam: phượng nhãn thảo, thanh thất núi cao.

Distribution

Native to China, now widely cultivated as an ornamental throughout the world in particular in areas with a subtropical or temperate climate, often naturalized. In Malesia occasionally grown as an ornamental in the cooler parts.

Uses

In Vietnam, the stem bark is used in folk medicine to treat diarrhoea and dysentery and sometimes against tapeworms. A decoction of the fruit is employed for cough and irregularity of menstruation. The resin is used externally as a counterirritant or vesicant. The stem bark is astringent, antispasmodic and powdered dried bark has narcotic properties. The fruits are used as an emmenagogue and for ophthalmic purposes. The leaves are astringent and applied in lotions prescribed in seborrhoea and scabies. Leaves and flowers sometimes cause dermatitis. The wood can be used for the production of furniture and utensils. The female trees are preferred for ornamental purposes in view of the odour of the male flowers.

Observations

  • A deciduous tree up to 30 m tall, sometimes suckering from roots, forming dense thickets.
  • Leaves imparipinnate with (4-)6-12(-15) pairs of oblique and lobed or dentate leaflets (4-)10–-15 cm long, glabrous or puberulous with an abaxial gland near the tip of basal lobes.
  • Petals woolly on inner surface and lower margins; carpels 5, glabrous.
  • Samara 4(-6) cm long.

A. altissima is tolerant of drought, saline soils and air pollution. These qualities in combination with its resistance to fungal and insect attack make it an ideal urban tree despite its sometimes weedy nature.

Selected sources

  • [52] Anderson, L.A., Harris, A. & Phillipson, J.D., 1983. Production of cytotoxic canthin-6-one alkaloids by Ailanthus altissima plant cell cultures. Journal of Natural Products 46(3): 374—378.
  • [135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
  • [216] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1985. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. Revised Edition. Vol. 1. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India. 513 pp.
  • [248] Derrick, E.K. & Darley, C.R., 1994. Contact reaction to the tree of heaven. Contact Dermatitis 30(3): 178.
  • [304] Fernando, E.S., Gadek, P.A. & Quinn, C.J., 1995. Simaroubaceae, an artificial construct: evidence from rbcL sequence variation. American Journal of Botany 82(1): 92—103.
  • [311] Flora of Thailand (various editors), 1970—. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand.
  • [341] Geerinck, D., 1990. Ailanthus vilmoriniana versus A. altissima (Simaroubaceae). Belgian Journal of Botany 123(1—2): 14—18.
  • [362] Graves, W.R., Dana, M.N. & Joly, R.J., 1989. Influence of root-zone temperature on growth of Ailanthus altissima (Miller) Swingle. Journal of Environmental Horticulture 7(2): 79—82.
  • [402] Heisey, R.M., 1997. Allelopathy and the secret life of Ailanthus altissima. Arnoldia 57(3): 28—36.
  • [406] Hewson, H.J., 1985. Simaroubaceae. In: George, A.S. (Editor): Flora of Australia. Vol. 25. Melianthaceae to Simaroubaceae. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia. pp. 188—197.
  • [537] Kim, J., Kim, H.Y., Park, S.W., Choi, J.W. & Lee, C.K., 1994. Studies on the biological activities of the constituents of Ailanthus cortex radicis. II. Acute and renal toxicity of chloroform fraction. Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy 25(2):140—143.
  • [561] Kosuge, K., Mitsunaga, K., Koike, K. & Ohmoto, T., 1994. Studies on the constituents of Ailanthus integrifolia. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (Tokyo) 42(8): 1669—1671.
  • [566] Kraus, W., Koll-Weber, M., Maile, R., Wunder, T. & Vogler, B., 1994. Biologically active constituents of tropical and subtropical plants. Pure and Applied Chemistry 66(10/11): 2347—2352.
  • [739] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
  • [746] Nooteboom, H.P., 1962. Simaroubaceae. In: van Steenis C.G.G.J. (Editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 6. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. pp. 193—226.
  • [765] Osoba, O.A. & Robert, M.F., 1993. Purification and properties of 1-hydroxycanthin-6-one: S-adenosyl-L-methionine methyl transferase from Ailanthus altissima cell cultures. Phytochemistry 32(3): 665—671.
  • [776] Pascual-Villalobos, M.J. & Robledo, A., 1998. Screening for anti-insect activity in Mediterranean plants. Industrial Crops and Products 8(3): 183—194.
  • [786] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
  • [788] Pételot, A., 1952—1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
  • [798] Polonsky, J., Varon, Z., Moretti, C., Pettit, G.R., Herald, C.L., Rideout, J.A., Saha, S.B. & Khastgir, H.N., 1980. The antineoplastic quassinoids of Simaba cuspidata Spruce and Ailanthus grandis Prain. Journal of Natural Products 43(4): 503—509.
  • [817] Rahman, S., Fukamiya, N., Okano, M., Tagahara, K. & Lee, K.H., 1997. Anti-tuberculosis activity of quassinoids. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (Tokyo) 45(9): 1527—1529.
  • [888] Seida, A.A., Kinghorn, A.D., Cordell, G.A. & Farnsworth, N.R., 1978. Potential anticancer agents IX. Isolation of a new simaroubolide, 6 alpha-tigloyloxychaparrinone, from Ailanthus integrifolia ssp. calycina (Simaroubaceae). Lloydia 41(6): 584—587.
  • [898] Shah, B., 1997. The checkered career of Ailanthus altissima. Arnoldia 57(3): 21—27.
  • [933] Singh, R.P., Gupta, M.K. & Prakash Chand, 1992. Autecology of Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. in Western Himalayas. Indian Forester 118(12): 917—921
  • [956] Speroni, E., Crespi-Perellino, N., Gucciardi, A. & Minghettia, A., 1987. Biological activity of an aqueous extract from Ailanthus altissima cell cultures. Pharmaceutisch Weekblad (Science edition) 9(4): 246.
  • [980] Tada, H., Yasuda, F., Otani, K., Doteuchi, M., Ishihara, Y. & Shiro, M., 1991. New antiulcer quassinoids from Eurycoma longifolia. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 26(3): 345—350.
  • [1072] Wijnands, D.O., 1989. Ailanthus altissima. Dendroflora 26: 3—5.

Main genus page

Authors

  • J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg
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