Heaven

For some weeks last year, as can be seen from reference 1, I was intrigued by a tree growing in front of the telephone exchange in East Street; a tree which, inter alia, suckered very freely. Thought to be a tree of heaven, for which see reference 2.

Then, the other day, I noticed that it was flowering, so clearly time to have another go.

Noting in passing that the British Telecom gardeners have had a bit of a tidy up, cutting all the many suckers more or less back to ground level. I don't suppose that will stop them, but it will surely slow them down.

Google Images sticks with tree of heaven. Turning to Wikipedia, I clearly need to work out whether we have a male or a female tree here and whether there is an unpleasant smell - intended to attract pollinators.

Will I have to wait until more of the flowers are open? Plus, I don't suppose anyone is going to mind if I pick one for dissection at home.

Some conspicuous stamens? Or just an image processing artefact?

Hortus Third does not say anything about it being a pest in North America, but it does say that it is the male flowers that stink, so males best avoided in gardens.

Absent from Bentham & Hooker.

Family absent from Zomlefer.

PS: the Mandelson nonsense rolls on, diverting us all from more serious matters. I wonder today how politicians are ever going to get their work done if they can't have private conversations, without worrying about some busy down the line forcing publication of a transcript. Or let their hair down a bit over a few beers. Is it any wonder that they hang onto their private telephones and don't tell the security chaps about them?

References 

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/search?q=heaven.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailanthus_altissima.