AILANTHUS

noun Etymology: New Latin, from Kamarian (Austronesian language of the Piru Bay region, Seram) ai lanito, literally, the sky tree, or from a cognate phrase in a related central Moluccan language Date: 1807 any of a small Asian genus ( Ailanthus of the family Simaroubaceae, the ~ family) of chiefly tropical trees and shrubs with bitter bark, pinnate leaves, and terminal panicles of ill-scented greenish flowers