Wednesday Street Tree #5
Tree of Heaven
Last Sunday, I led a walk around Bermondsey in south London looking at the legacy of Ada Salter who became mayor of the borough in 1922. She and her husband, Alfred Salter, the local MP, started many trailblazing initiatives in the area to improve conditions in what was essentially an overcrowded, industrial slum. These involved implementing public healthcare, building sanitary public housing and ‘beautifying’ the borough.
The borough was transformed, most noticeably through tree planting by Ada’s ‘Beautification committee’. Thousands of trees appeared over the subsequent two decades. Today, Bermondsey has a wealth of mature trees from this period and from the years after the Second World War. Back then, the planting palette was fairly limited; it included London planes, birches, horse chestnuts, poplars and most intriguingly, trees of heaven.
Tree of heaven is claimed to have been Ada’s favourite species. It is handsome yet short-lived and was recommended in the twentieth century as an ideal species for planting in industrial areas because of its tolerance of pollution. For a politician, it must have appeared to be a wonder tree – it can grow at an incredible rate in the worst conditions, so it was a tree that could be relied upon to fulfil political promises. Consequently, it was planted in significant numbers in Bermondsey.
Today, there are still a handful of old trees around on the streets and in estates, but they are reaching the end of their lives, so now is the time to go tree of heaven hunting in Bermondsey.
As well as a handful of old trees, you will also see tenacious young ToH saplings wherever Southwark council (the inheritor of the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey after 1965) has left a hedgerow or plot of land untended. These are suckers and seedlings from the trees planted in the twentieth century, and illustrate why this species is no longer planted. In fact, in 2019, the tree of heaven had become such a threat, it joined 35 other species on a UK government list of invasive non-native plant species. It has the distinction of being the only tree species on that list.
What is it?
Tree of heaven
Ailanthus altissima
Where is it?
Long Lane, London SE1 3RH
///winks.waters.singer | 51.499636, -0.086517 | TreeTalk
Further reading
I’m pleased to see
has launched a substack and even more pleases to see a post about the Beautification of Bermondsey.A longer read on the
substack I wrote in 2022 about Ada Salter.
Ada Salter and the Beautification of Bermondsey on my website.
My book, London’s Street Trees has more information about the Tree of Heaven and the legacy of Ada Salter.
We have quite a few of those in Welwyn Garden City. They certainly are beautiful, and fecund!
Yes, those trees are very pesky! Ada should have planted Melia azedarach, the graceful Chinaberry tree!