A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Everywhere Else

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Everywhere Else

Thursday, March 19 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm

Presented by Jay Townsend, Ph.D.

Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven) has a record from the dawn of history as a medicinal plant in China. It was introduced into the United States in 1784 by William Hamilton for his Woodlands estate on the west side of the Schuylkill. Despite its rank odor and proclivity for suckering, it was planted extensively as a street tree in the 19th Century and was even used as a symbol for thriving under difficult conditions in the 1943 Betty Smith novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. As the public came to realize its negative features, the tree was removed from streets and gardens but it continues to spread in untended areas. Today it is considered an invasive species in the United States, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. More recently, the tree has taken on additional notoriety as the preferred host of the spotted lanternfly. Jay Townsend, Ph.D. will fill us in on the rich history of this sometimes loved and sometimes hated tree species.

Free of charge.