Skyrækker, the Danish name for this species, means sky-reacher.
Tree of Heaven
Ailanthus altissima is the tree cities spend the most money getting rid of, and all four of these are protected or plaqued instead. This page maps every tree of heaven on the site, 7 so far across 7 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.
Copenhagen
London
Tree of heaven is the species councils spend money removing.
Brussels
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...
Dublin
The largest Ailanthus altissima in Ireland stands framed between two Victorian glasshouses in Dublin, and nobody agrees on how old it actually is.
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...
Zaragoza
Zaragoza protects, as a singular tree, a specimen of the species European cities spend the most money trying to get rid of.
Dordrecht
Nobody plants these on purpose any more, which is why the oldest one in Dordrecht is worth going to look at.
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