Females Stink!

Well, not females of the human variety, necessarily, but I can assure you that the fruit of female(!) ginkgo trees sure does!

For a few weeks now, there has been an odor of what seemed to be dog poo permeating our side and back yards. Anne and I had assumed it was simply a scent drifting from our neighbor's yard, as she has a dog that is not nearly as sophisticated as our pup, Gracie. We came to discover, however, that while the neighbor's mutt is a yippy pain, it is not the source of the smell.

Tired of checking her shoes or searching the car mats for transferred canine excrement, Anne did some quick on-line research and discovered the cause of the stink: the ginkgo tree (pictured above right)which border our two houses and under which we park our vehicles each day (below left).

I was particularly surprised to learn that that trees can come in “genders,” being either male or female. Our tree is of course of the smellier floral sex: a female.

We did not come to this conclusion by checking under its leaves. According to one website, “…female trees will bear yellowish plum-shaped fruit with a somewhat foul smelling meat (like rancid butter some say) whose outer skin is mildly toxic. Fallen fruits will usually burst open their fleshy coating, thus releasing the odor. In an outdoor setting, the smell is not too overpowering, but avoid planting near car ports or along roads as some people have reported paint damage from the fruits juices…”

Great.

It does not surprise me is that the previous owners would plant such a noxious tree. When we first moved in, every room was a different shade of grey (including the exterior), and because they had been recreational bonsaists(?), there were shelves in the gardens cobbled together with cinder blocks and boards. And guess what... the ginkgo tree is a favorite of Bonsai enthusiasts, but they usually will know it as the Maidenhair Tree, as the small, bonsai trained leaves turn to a striking gold hue in the Fall.

Because Ginkgos will take about 20 years of growth before they start to reproduce, we can deduce that the tree has been here for almost two decades, and being the first time in our four years here that the fruits have appeared, we had not previously noticed the scent. Where we go from here is unclear, and while the fruit can be picked (while wearing latex gloves) and the nuts removed from the pungent smelling meat of the fruit, given the height of the tree, and my cowardice in the face of scaling it, this is unlikely.

At least we can take comfort in knowing that someones dog isn't pooping all over our yards... it's just nature.

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!