Dog Sh#% Tree

Several years ago, when I could still take my long walks, I had noticed a dog sh#% odor while I walked along Exchange Street, a few houses south of Farwell.  At first I thought there was a good amount of doggy do around, but after a few daily walks, I realized it was a Gingko tree on a lot. While the tree is a nice yellow color, its odor in the fall is horrendous, and to say it smells like one stepped in dog sh#% is putting it mildly.  Since I had to stop walking due to feet problems almost four years ago, I had avoided the dog sh#% smell of that tree. That is, until this year.

The Big dog sh#% tree on Exchange Street

This year, I started swimming a few days a week. I usually bike to swimming, and the road to the pool, takes me by that Gingko tree. Fortunately, on a bike, I do not have to put up with the putrid smell for as long as I had when I walked. Several years ago, I tied the strong odor to the leaves, which never seem to be picked up by the homeowner until late in the season, if at all. I thought it was rotting leaves. This year I looked up what produces the smell and it is actually an odor produced by a covering on the female tree seed pod, and the smell comes out following the first frost. So it is tied, in a sense, to leaf change and drop. The frost triggered odor is not pleasant. One website says it to be similar to rancid butter or animal excrement. Another source compares the odor to vomit. Well, sometimes the odor is so strong it does want to make me vomit. 

I can see myself peddling along the road, on the new laid (two month old asphalt) and discoloring it with vomit spread along the white gutter and curb as the rancid, dog sh#% smell just was too strong for my overly sensitive olfactory sense, and caused a negative reaction. 

Gingko Leaves on Exchange St Sidewalk

Yet, even with this horrible smell, Gingko trees are recommended for a street tree due to their ability to withstand certain conditions and their brilliant yellow fall color. As a Purdue University website says: "Ginkgo trees are valuable street trees because of their low susceptibility to smoke, drought, or low temperatures. These trees grow slowly and perform relatively well in most soil types provided they are well-drained. The leaves turn a vibrant​ yellow during autumn but drop soon after its brilliant fall color is observed." The problem is that as a young tree one cannot tell the difference between a male and a female Gingko. Luckily, today one can select a cultivar that is a male only tree. 

While the seed produces this strong pungent odor, the seed kernel is highly valued in parts of Asia as a food source. Further, some Gingko extracts are said to help improve short-term memory and concentration. The problem is, according to Purdue, when those seeds fall, the odor will last two months. Hence, that terrible smell is around for longer than it should be.

One of a series of Gingko Trees
at the local library.

The first time I came across the odor I looked at the ground wondering if a pile of dog sh#% was nearby. I then looked back, and wondered if by chance I had stepped in some. Some people are not good at picking up their doggie doo. The doggie doo piles are more prevalent in the spring with the snow melt as lazy dog owners avoid picking up their dog's sh#% in snow. Given the prevalence of the odor on subsequent walks, I related it to the leaf change. I guess I never got close enough to see if there was any fruit on the tree; and why would I? Purdue University has several Gingko trees on its campus, many of them female, and recommends students avoid stepping on the fruit as the odor will follow them to class being on the bottom of the shoe. I don't recall, but maybe there were some Gingko leaves, with fruit underneath that I could not see, and had the unfortunate situation of stepping on some seeds which would allow the smell to come along. 

One never knows what will produce a strong odor in nature. Here it is a female seed pod. Hopefully, the people who walk the smell makes dog walkers think they do not have to pick up their dogs doo, since they may think a good amount of other doo is around. In one of the Mighty Duck movies, a prank is pulled on some thieves by filling an old lady's purse with doggy doo, and the putting a few dollars sticking out of it and placing it in the crosswalk, as a not so pleasant find for the person who desires a few dollars. In McFarland it is not doggy doo, or a purse filled with it, it is just a Gingko tree whose pods smell like dog sh#%.