Re: What smells

mikemace@worldnet.att.net writes:
>Ohhhh yeah.  Those are wonderful trees in our climate,
>trouble-free, great shade in the summer, reliably producing
>bright yelow foliage every autumn.  But make sure you get a
>boy tree.  I had a girl one as a street tree in front of my
>last house, and every summer it dumped stinking fruit on the
>sidewalk.  They look like small apricots, but their smell is
>for the dogs, if you know what I mean.  You don't want to
>step on one.

>My next-door neighbor tried to get me to cut down the tree,
>but a better cure is to get a first-generation Chinese
>family to move into the neighborhood.  Ginko nuts are a
>delicacy in China, and the family on our street happily
>collected every fruit and took them home.

I read somewhere that the stinky outer seedcoat may have evolved to
deter seed eating preadators (porbably dinos). Interesting thing about
the name though is, Ginkgo seems to have come from the chinese for
"Silver Apricot" (dont ask for the chinese on that!), since the chinese
infact used to call it "Silver Apricot". The japanese called it I-cho
or "tree with leaves like a ducks feet" (thats a very free
translation!).

I think they are handsome trees, and the fall color is wonderful (they
would match the color of the native willows, and Acer. macrophyllums)
Theres a few in Monterey that look nice, but they sure are slow
growing...
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index