Most cities that have a Tree of Heaven at all have one nobody planted, since Ailanthus altissima spreads through cracked pavement and vacant lots so readily that it is treated as a weed across much...
Tree of Heaven
Ailanthus altissima
Ailanthus altissima is the tree cities spend the most money getting rid of, and the old ones here are protected or plaqued instead. We map 10 of them, in 9 cities.
The one in Ravenscourt Park in London has a green plaque at its foot. Zaragoza lists the specimen in its botanical garden as a singular tree. Dublin's is the largest in Ireland, framed between two Victorian glasshouses, and its age is a real argument: the register says 120 to 165 years, the way this species grows suggests closer to 70 or 100. That growth rate is the whole problem with it. Tree of heaven seeds into any crack, sends suckers under pavement and shades out whatever stood there first, fast enough to reach a serious size within one lifetime. The Danish name says what that looks like: skyraekker, sky reacher. Copenhagen's, in Assistens, is 15.5 metres.
Brussels
Ailanthus altissima is the tree cities usually spend money removing.
Dublin
The largest Ailanthus altissima in Ireland stands framed between two Victorian glasshouses in Dublin, and nobody agrees on how old it actually is.
London
Tree of heaven is the species councils spend money removing.
Photo: Hopefully Acceptable Username (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Krakow
Ulica Swietego Jana runs from the Main Square to the Planty, one of the most walked streets in the Old Town, and the tree registered at number 30 is a species most European cities spend money tryin...
Copenhagen
Skyrækker, the Danish name for this species, means sky-reacher.
Photo: Hans Erik Lund
Dordrecht
Nobody plants these on purpose any more, which is why the oldest one in Dordrecht is worth going to look at.
Zaragoza
Zaragoza protects, as a singular tree, a specimen of the species European cities spend the most money trying to get rid of.
Deventer
Almost every tree of heaven in Europe today is a volunteer nobody planted.
Ghent
The memorial beside this tree is a drawing of its shadow.
Explore by city: Brussels · Dublin · London · Krakow · Copenhagen · Dordrecht · Deventer · Ghent · every city · or browse all species.