The Tree of Heaven of the Botgensstraat

Nobody plants these on purpose any more, which is why the oldest one in Dordrecht is worth going to look at. Tree of heaven came from China, arrived in Europe in the eighteenth century as an ornamental, and was planted hard in cities because it grows faster than anything else and does not care about bad soil, drought or fumes. Then it turned out that it seeds prolifically, suckers aggressively through paving and cellars, and poisons the ground against competitors with a chemical in its roots. It is now one of the most unwanted plants in Europe. This one predates all of that argument. Banded 1900 to 1910, it is the oldest of its kind in the city, and the register makes a point of saying it holds up well in its very stony surroundings, which is the whole nature of the species in one sentence. You reach it through a small street behind the Botgensstraat, which is exactly the sort of leftover urban gap it thrives in. Enormous compound leaves up to a metre long, and in late summer dense bunches of papery winged seeds that often turn a rusty red. Crush a leaf and it smells unpleasant. That is diagnostic.