🌳 Tree of Heaven Removal

Identify It

Tree of Heaven is often mistaken for a few native trees, so it's worth checking more than one feature before you decide. The fastest, most reliable field test is the smell — the rest confirms it.

Fastest field test: crush a leaf

Crushed leaves, stems, and bark give off a strong, foul odor — commonly described as rancid peanuts or rancid butter (in China it's nicknamed “chòuchūn,” the “foul-smelling tree”). Neither of its common look-alikes below smell like this.
A whole pinnately compound Tree of Heaven leaf

Leaves are alternate and pinnately compound, with 11–41 leaflets and up to 3 feet long overall.

Photo: Philmarin · source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Close-up of the glandular teeth at the base of a Tree of Heaven leaflet

The single best field mark: 1–2 small glandular teeth near the base of each leaflet — the rest of the leaflet edge is smooth.

Photo: Katherine Wagner-Reiss · source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tree of Heaven bark, smooth and pale gray

Bark is smooth and pale gray on young trees, often compared to cantaloupe rind; it develops shallow diamond-shaped fissures with age.

Photo: Philmarin · source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Clusters of twisted, winged Tree of Heaven samaras

Seeds form in twisted, wing-shaped samaras that turn reddish-brown in fall — a single mature female tree can produce 300,000+ a year.

Photo: Philmarin · source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Don't confuse it with these native look-alikes

Two native species get mistaken for Tree of Heaven most often. The leaflet edge is the reliable tiebreaker: Tree of Heaven's leaflets are smooth-margined except for those basal glands; both look-alikes below are toothed along their entire leaflet edge.

Staghorn sumac compound leaf, toothed along the entire leaflet margin

Staghorn / smooth sumac (Rhus typhina / R. glabra) — leaflets are serrated along their entire margin, not just at the base.

Photo: Gilles Ayotte, Université Laval · source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Black walnut compound leaf

Black walnut (Juglans nigra) — narrower, more numerous, finely serrated leaflets; crushed leaves smell spicy/citrusy, not foul.

Photo: Jeffrey Beall · source · CC BY-SA 2.0

Sources