Inside the trees, most of the fruit trees we often see and are familiar with are hermaphroditic, like peach trees, apricot trees, pear trees, etc., and there are many common and common trees, such as woolly poplars, willow trees, ginkgo trees, mulberry trees, sycamore trees, etc. Hermaphroditious trees, gender boundaries are clear, the division of labor is also clear, the male tree only blooms male flowers, responsible for the production of pollen and pollination, the female tree, the female flower, accept pollen, while shouldering the responsibility of conceiving the next generation.
Ailanthus trees are also typical of hermaphroditism, and it is for this reason that I have been mistaken for three kinds of trees with Tsubaki in their names: Toon, Ailanthus (Pinus) and Tsubaki.
It turned out that the tall and stout old Tsubaki tree that grew in the yard of my hometown when I was a child was Ailanthus and the male tree in Ailanthus. In my memory, the old tree had a thick trunk and a huge canopy. In the spring, the green leaves first grow, and when the leaves are grown, they begin to appear inflorescences in the branches, and when the entire canopy is densely branched, those inflorescences also begin to have small flowers blooming sporadically, and then there are the fine yellowish green flowers that bloom all over the tree. The rich smell of the tree-filled Tsubaki flowers when they bloom, some people particularly dislike, some people like, for me, it does not smell bad, it is a familiar smell in my childhood, it is a kind smell, it is the smell of my hometown courtyard in my childhood. And the sound of Tsubaki flowers falling to the ground, the beauty of opening and falling, is also a beautiful scene that I was familiar with when I was a child! Not only will the tsubaki flowers fall, but after a while, along with the long stalks, they will fall. Whenever Tsubaki flowers and Tsubaki stems fall to the ground, when we were young, we would recite the little song taught by our grandmother: "When Tsubaki flowers fall to the ground, we must eat ears of wheat; when the spring flowers fall into stems, we must eat white flour cakes." "In the countryside, many plants on the earth can witness and relate to each other in this way, and then become widely known through catchy ballads.
Whether female or male, the inflorescence of Ailanthus is a conical inflorescence, about 30 cm or so, with faint and elegant yellow-green florets staggered and clustered on the inflorescence. Compared with the female flowers of other trees, the female flowers of Ailanthus are also a little special, that is, it has sterilized stamens, which can be barely called "hermaphrodites". However, in terms of function, it can only play the role of a female flower.
Ailanthus female flowers will produce tender green wing fruits after giving thanks, and when it comes to autumn, those large bunches of tender green winged fruits will become red and moving, delicate and cute, far away, but also particularly pleasing to the eye, but also a beautiful scenery in autumn! After the pieces of winged fruit become old and dried, they become yellow-brown, although they cannot be eaten, but they can be medicated.
People in the hometown usually call it tsubaki trees, in fact, it is ailanthus trees and toon trees, probably because toon trees were relatively rare at that time, and the fresh leaves in the spring are rare delicacies, and the aroma is attacking, so when it comes to toon, it is necessary to add a "incense" word in front. Well, the three kinds of Tsubaki trees I am talking about, in fact, strictly speaking, there are only two kinds of toon trees and Ailanthus trees.
From childhood, I was familiar with, saw every day, and commonplace Ailanthus trees, until today, more than forty years later, I know a lot about them. Yes, I only know more about them, and there are more secrets in them that I don't know.