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Sparsely and locally naturalized in southern Ontario, New England, and southward.
A native of China; first introduced into the United States on an extensive scale in 1820 at Flushing, Long Island; afterwards disseminated by nursery plants and by seed distributed from the Agricultural Department at Washington. Its rapid growth, ability to withstand considerable variations in temperature, and its dark luxuriant foliage made it a great favorite for shade and ornament. It was planted extensively in Philadelphia and New York, and generally throughout the eastern sections of the country. When these trees began to fill the ground with suckers and the vile-scented sterile flowers poisoned the balmy air of June and the water in the cisterns, occasioning many distressing cases of nausea, a reaction set in and hundreds of trees were cut down. The female trees, against the blossoms of which no such objection lay, were allowed to grow, and have often attained a height of 50-75 feet, with a trunk diameter of 3-5 feet. The fruit is very beautiful, consisting of profuse clusters of delicate pinkish or greenish keys.
The tree is easily distinguished by its ill-scented compound leaves, often 2-3 feet long, by the numerous leaflets, sometimes exceeding 40, each ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, with one or two teeth near the base, by its vigorous growth from suckers, and in winter by the coarse, blunt shoots and conspicuous, heart-shaped leaf-scars.