SAMIA CYNTHIA & AILANTHUS ALTISSIMUS

The ailanthus tree or "tenement palm", as it is known in New York City, or "Chinese Tree of Heaven", as it is known elsewhere, is the preferred food plant of Samia cynthia.

I can still remember finding Samia cynthia larvae and cocoons on spreading trees nearly as wide as their thirty to thirty-five foot heights in Newark, New Jersey, back in the late 1950's.

In China "Altissimus" approaches 100 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 3 feet.

In "Foodplants of World Saturniidae" Steven E. Stone also lists ailanthus as one of the food plants for Attacus atlas. I rear quite a few Saturniidae and felt this tree would be a welcome additon to my "Saturniidae garden" here in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

I had never seen the tree growing locally, but could remember seeing large seed clusters hanging from highway divider plantings along Route 78 in New Jersey. I obtained some clusters in the fall of 1996 and put them in a freezer bag in the refrigerator crisper. Seed clusters, copyright@1997 by Dr. Alice B. Russell, N C State College.

In early April of 1997 I planted some seeds in potting soil in 2 litre, waxed cardboard milk containers. I planted the seeds, one to a container, about one inch deep, watered liberally, and set a dozen containers in a school greenhouse. I did not remove the seeds from their dried seed pods. About twenty-four days later the seeds germinated. Every four-five days a new compound leaf would develop. Each new leaf had two more leaflets than the leaf before. The seedlings grew rapidly and were about ten inches high with compound leaflets of 11, 9, 7, 5, 3 and 1 leaflet respectively when I moved them to a semi-sheltered, semi-shaded spot in my garden. I didn't have any room in the full sun locations that Ailanthus prefers. Ailanthus compound leaves are very long and can have up to 25 leaflets on a short stalk. Two to four large "teeth" are at the base of each leaflet. Foliage, copyright@1997 by Dr. Alice B. Russell, NCSC

I dug some small holes, tore the milk containers away from the root balls, and inserted the seedlings. By the end ot the summer two of the seedlings had reached heights of approximately 39 inches with a base diameter of 3/4 inch. Most of the others were about 18-24 inches tall.

A December 28 inspection showed some nibblings on the bark, but otherwise the saplings seem to be in fine condition, I will put protective tree guards around the larger growths tomorrow.

A recent internet search indicates the trees can be expected to grow approximately three feet/year for at least the first four years of their lives and that they are hardy in U.S. Dept. of Agriculture zones 4-8.

Here in Montague, Prince Edward Island I am in zone 3 so it will be touchy to see if the trees survive.

Photo of Samia cynthia larva courtesy of Mark Lasko

Although I didn't raise any cynthia larvae on Ailanthus this summer, I did get a few small ones through on pin cherry (Prunus pennsylvanicum). I plan to greenhouse plant about one hundred seeds in late February (never got around to this, only planted about twenty-five) this year to see if I can get a brood of cynthia through even if my trees don't survive the winter. I'm constantly washing out milk containers in preparation.

It is now midwinter of 2003. The ailanthus trees have a trunk diameter of almost two inches and stand over fifteen feet tall. They have served me well on many occasions.

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