Since the spotted lanternfly first made its presence known in Virginia in 2018, we have been faithfully stomping, squashing and squishing the invaders, which the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources describes as a “vampire in a black tuxedo, white shirt, and red bowtie.”

Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven) was imported from China and widely distributed in the United States as an ornamental in the late 1700s and 1800s. Its behavior, though, is far from heavenly.