Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) on Jul 26, 2022

Submitter does not have a specimen

Description of specimen

Our plant app ID'd it as Tree of Heaven. It had smooth leaf edges except for the notch at the base, something stressed by a youtuber I watched last week. New growth is reddish. Just up the hill from the point marked on this map are very tall mature trees with heavy seed or flowers (?) in a rusty color -- looked like the same tree. We did not have time to go look at them, but if you draw a mid point between my marker and the Legacy Hospital that's about where they are. Comparing what we saw to online images, I would tend to believe these are Tree of Heaven.

Commentary

I'll just jump in here as well and give a shout out to the Oregon Tree-Of-Heaven Tally that the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture is hosting on the iNaturalist website. This tree is not also invasive but is the preferred host for an invasive insect called the spotted lanternfly that we are trying to keep out of Oregon. Getting a good understanding of the tree's distribution will help in monitoring for the insect. You can join at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/oregon-tree-of-heaven-tally. Thanks!

Beth Myers-Shenai
July 26, 2022, 6:29 a.m.