Projekt LIFE ARTEMIS – Osveščanje, usposabljanje
in ukrepanje za invazivne tujerodne vrste v gozdu
Home > Alien species > Alien plants > Tree-of-heaven
NATIVE RANGE: East Asia
PATHWAYS: horticulture, silviculture
POSSIBLE TO DETECT: year-round
FLOWERING SEASON: May – June
DESCRIPTION: Dioecious, deciduous tree with thick branches. Bark smooth, greyish. Leaves 30–90 cm long, spiralling, glabrous, pinnately compound. Leaflets lanceolate, pointed at the tip, with 2–4 glandular lobes near the base. Leaflets, male flowers and young shoots have a foul odour. Flowers are small, borne in large, dense, upright clusters. Fruits are lanceolate samaras several centimetres long with a seed in the centre. They develop on female plants and persist on trees until the following spring.
HABITAT: Forest margins and open forests, including riparian forests and open rocky slopes. Also established at ruderal sites, along roadsides and in urban habitats.
STATUS: Widely established throughout Europe, particularly common in the Mediterranean region and in urban areas. In Slovenia it is common in lowland and hilly regions, especially in central and eastern Slovenia. A major problem in urban environments, because it is germinating in small cracks (e.g. in walls and between tiles in the pavement) and on abandoned agricultural sites.
SIMILAR SPECIES: European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) black walnut (Juglans nigra), Manchurian walnut (J. mandshurica) and staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) do not have glandular lobes on leaflet bases. Staghorn sumac has fuzzy leaflets with serrate margins and upright clusters of fruits.
SOURCE: Field Guide to Invasive Alien Species in European Forests
NOTE: this species is included in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list) of Regulation (EU) 1143/2014. The species included on the Union list are subject to restrictions and measures set out in the Regulation. These include restrictions on keeping, importing, selling, breeding and growing. Member States are required to take action on pathways of unintentional introduction, to take measures for the early detection and rapid eradication of these species, and to manage species that are already widely spread in their territory.
NOTE: this species is included in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list) of Regulation (EU) 1143/2014. The species included on the Union list are subject to restrictions and measures set out in the Regulation. These include restrictions on keeping, importing, selling, breeding and growing. Member States are required to take action on pathways of unintentional introduction, to take measures for the early detection and rapid eradication of these species, and to manage species that are already widely spread in their territory.