The Saliva Tree

{{short description|1965 novella by Brian Aldiss}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Saliva Tree

| author = Brian Aldiss

| illustrator = Bert Tanner

| genre = Science fiction

| image =

| publisher = The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

| release_date = 1965

}}

The Saliva Tree is a science fiction novella by British writer Brian W. Aldiss first published in the September 1965 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It won the 1965 Nebula Award for Best Novella (which it shared with He Who Shapes by Roger Zelazny in a tie).{{Cite news|url=http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-award-winners-1965-2000/|title=Nebula Award Winners: 1965 - 2011 - SFWA|work=SFWA|access-date=6 September 2017|language=en-US}}{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Damon |author-link= |date=1966 |title=Nebula Award Stories |location=New York City, NY |publisher=Pocket Books |page=65 }}

The Saliva Tree was written to mark the centenary of H. G. Wells's birth, and shared the Nebula Award for the best novella of 1965.

[http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit2.html#46 "Aldiss, Brian W."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805160723/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit2.html#46 |date=5 August 2011 }} The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index of Literary Nominees. Locus Publications. Retrieved 2 April 2013. While set in a Wellsian milieu, it contains two plot elements also found in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft: an object from space which causes crops and livestock to grow prolifically, but be unpalatable (The Colour out of Space) and a monster which is visible only when sprayed with an opaque powder (The Dunwich Horror).