Ailanthus excelsa Roxb., Simaroubaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate; score: 4 (Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment for Ailanthus excelsa)

Other Latin names:  Ailanthus wightii Tiegh.; Pongelion excelsum (Roxb.) Pierre; Pongelion wightii Tiegh.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Indian tree-of-heaven

Unknown: [other common names (India)]

Habit:  tree

Description:  "It [Ailanthus excelsa] is a large deciduous tree, 18-25 m tall; trunk straight, 60 to 80 cm in diameter; bark light gray-brown and rough on large trees, aromatic slightly bitter. Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, large, 30-60 cm or more in length; leaflets 8-14 or more pairs, long stalked, ovate or broadly lanced shaped from very unequal base, 6-10/90 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, often curved, long pointed, hairy gland; edges coarsely toothed and often lobed. Flower cluster lobed at leaf base, shorter than leaves, much branched; flowers many, mostly male and females on different trees, shorter stalked, greenish-yellow; calyx 5 lobed; 5 narrow petals spreading 6 mm across; stamens 10; on other flowers, 2-5 separate pistils, each with elliptical ovary, 1 ovule and slender type. Fruit a 1 seeded samara, lanced [sic] shaped, flat, pointed at ends, 5 cm long, 1cm wide, copper red, strongly veined, twisted at the base. . . ." (Kumar et al. 2010, p. 536)

Habitat/ecology:  In India: "Environmental Requirements: Temperature. Ardu [PIER ed.: Ailanthus excelsa] grows in an area where temperatures range from 20°-40°C. It can withstand considerable frost. Altitude: It is grown at low altitudes. Rainfall. It grows best with annual rainfall of more than 600 mm, although it survives on 400 mm a year. Soil: The tree grows in a variety of soils, but sandy loams seem most suitable. Soils should be well drained and not clayish or waterlogged." (text verbatim; punctuation altered) (HDL2.0 accessed 20180915)

ECOLOGY: A. excelsa grows well in semi-arid and semi-moist regions and has been found suitable for planting in dry areas with annual rainfall of about 400 mm. It is commonly found in mixed deciduous forests and some sal forests, but is rare in moist areas with high monsoons. Plant associations include Acacia catechu, A. leucophloea and Azadirachta indica. It is a relatively salt-tolerant species. BIOPHYSICAL LIMITS: Altitude: 0-900 m, Mean annual temperature: 0-45 deg C, Mean annual rainfall: 500-2 500 mm. Soil type: Grows in a wide variety of soils, but thrives best in porous sandy loams. It avoids clayey soils with poor drainage and waterlogged areas. Its growth is poor on shallow dry soils. (World Agroforestry)

Propagation:  Ailanthus excelsa can be propagated by seed (Khurana & Singh, 2000, p. 50) and "regenerates well by coppicing" (HDL2.0 accessed 20180915). "The plant [PIER ed.: Ailanthus excelsa] is usually propagated by seed; however, it can be raised by shoot as well as by root cuttings." (HDL2.0 accessed 20180915)

Native range:  India & Sri Lanka (GRIN accessed 20180915)

Impacts and invaded habitats:  If you know of other invaded habitats or impacts, please let us know.

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Asia Asia	Afganistan		GBIF (year unknown) "Present in Afganistan"
Asia Asia	Pakistan	introduced cultivated	Malik, Kamal A. (year unknown) "Distribution: Australia, China, India, it is sometimes cultivated in Pakistan" (status="Introduced" as implied by "sometimes cultivated [in Pakistan]"
Australia Australia	Australia		Malik, Kamal A. (year unknown) "Distribution: Australia, China, India, it is sometimes cultivated in Pakistan"
China China	China (People's Republic of)		Malik, Kamal A. (year unknown) "Distribution: Australia, China, India, it is sometimes cultivated in Pakistan"
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	GRIN (year unknown)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	introduced cultivated	GRIN (year unknown)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	native	GRIN (year unknown)
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	native	World Agroforestry (year unknown)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Africa Africa	Sudan	introduced cultivated	Jadalla, J. B./Khatir, A. A./Dawelbait, E. M./Ali, S. A. M. (2014) (p. 8) "Ailanthus excelsa was introduced to the country for its timber."
Africa Africa	Sudan	introduced	Kumar, Dinesh/Bhat, Z. A./Singh, P./Shah, M. Y./Bhujbal, S. S. (2010) Ailanthus excelsa "is exotically found in Sudan."
Africa Africa	Sudan	introduced	World Agroforestry (year unknown)
India India	India (Republic of)	native cultivated	GRIN (year unknown)
India India	India (Republic of)	native cultivated	Kumar, Dinesh/Bhat, Z. A./Singh, P./Shah, M. Y./Bhujbal, S. S. (2010) "Tree of heaven is fast growing extensively cultivated in many parts of India towards the vicinity of villages.... It is often planted along the roads."
India India	India (Republic of)		Malik, Kamal A. (year unknown) "Distribution: Australia, China, India, it is sometimes cultivated in Pakistan"
India India	India (Republic of)	native	World Agroforestry (year unknown)
United States of America United States	Pennsylvania (U.S. state)	introduced invasive	Encyclopedia of Life (year unknown) listed in EOL's (a least 5-year-old a/o 20180915) "Invasive Plants of Pittsburgh" list, but it seems that this was likely an error based on an uninformed lookup of the common name "Tree of Heaven"--confirmed by checking PIER ref#109838, where A. excelsa is not listed, but A. altissima *is* listed (PT@PhilipT.com/20180915)

Comments:  "Ability to compete with weeds. Good, except under drought conditions when ardu's [PIER ed.: Ailanthus excelsa] competitiveness is poor." (HDL2.0 accessed 20180915)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Ailanthus excelsa, please let us know.