Have you ever tried to describe the odor of some object in
nature, good or bad, to a friend? One relatively uncommon plant
that often grows in fallow sandy fields, sweet everlasting,
Gnaphalium obtusifolium (na-FAY-lee-um
ob-tew-si-FO-lee-um), always has reminded me of maple nut, one of
my favorite ice cream flavors. Naturally I have picked a few
dried flower heads many times in late fall and then had students
with me in the field thoroughly crush them between their fingers.
Much to my enjoyment many of the people have agreed with my
maple nut sensation.
Another great favorite throughout much of summer is the
extremely common so-called pineapple weed that has a delightful
twelve-syllable scientific name, Matricaria matricarioides
(ma-trih-CARE-e-a ma-trih-care-e-o-EYE-dees), which when placed
on end it is nearly as tall as the plant. Crush a fresh fruiting
head of this tiny plant and the pineapple fragrance is easily
detected.
There is an exotic tree, the ginkgo, fairly widely planted in
the U.S. today whose female plants produce fruits which when
stepped on emit an odor that has been described in many different
ways. Included in the descriptions are putrid, disagreeable,
evil, offensive, disgusting, repulsive, abominable, and even
resembling vomit. Prior to a few weeks ago I had read about this
unusual phenomenon, been told about it by several people who
owned large female ginkgo trees, but had never experienced the
odor firsthand.
Several years ago, while visiting our friend Laura Mueller in
Milwaukee, she had taken us to see an enormous ginkgo tree near
where she lived. The time was mid-summer before the fruit had
developed and dropped to the ground. Fortunately our recent
visit coincided with exactly what I had hoped to experience,
hundreds of ripe ginkgo fruits lying upon the ground beneath the
enormous and beautiful female tree.
Many of the yellow, inch-long, plum-like fruits had either
been stepped upon or had naturally burst open having lain on the
ground for several days. Even though one description of the
ripened pulp of the fruit is that of rancid butter, I really
can’t relate that odor but, yes, it surely was strong, offensive
and lingering on the soles of your shoes after you stepped on
some. Charlotte and I were very careful to thoroughly rub the
bottoms of our shoes on the grass and then inspect each others’
shoes to be sure we wouldn’t track gingko pulp into Laura’s home.
The tree we admired, and whose fruit and leaves we
photographed, has to be one of the largest in the state according
to the state tree-record listing. Like so many other potential
record trees, this one has never been discovered and has gone
unlisted. Because the trunk flares outward at the four and
one-half foot mark where it normally is measured, the measurement
has to be taken at the narrowest point roughly midway below that
mark and where the trunk flares outward at the base. At the four
and one-half foot point it measures close to 20 feet in
circumference. At the proper point for record measuring it is
about 16.9 feet around.
Among several nicknames for this beautiful tree are living
fossil tree and the maidenhair tree. The living fossil name
developed due to the fact that these trees grew during the time
of dinosaurs, around 200 million years ago and then, according to
fossil finds in many parts of the world including the U.S., were
thought to have become extinct. Eventually they were discovered
during the early 1700’s growing in temple gardens in China.
Possibly the oldest specimen in the world grows in the
northern part of Seoul, Korea. Estimated to be 1100+ years old,
it is over 200 feet tall and has a circumference of around 51
feet. Our listed state record grows in the city of Monroe, is a
little under 15 feet in circumference, 69 feet tall and has an
average crown-spread of 81 feet. Now you can see why I am
anxious to get accurate measurements of the Wauwatosa tree!
The species I have been mentioning is biloba
(by-LOW-ba) in reference to the tendency of each leaf to develop
two lobes, most easily seen along the outer edge of the leaf.
Several cultivars have been produced in recent years with perhaps
the most common one to be planted being the variety
fastigiata, better known as the sentry ginkgo. This tree
has been developed to have a considerably narrower crown than
biloba making it very suitable for street-side planting
and landscaping.
What makes the ginkgo tree so ideal for landscaping is its
extreme hardiness especially to pollution and pests. A nice
feature of its rather easy propagation is that cuttings can be
taken from male trees which will naturally grow into male trees,
eliminating the possibility of planting female trees, even though
they must reach the age of around 40 before they begin bearing
fruit.
A ginkgo tree is neither a broad-leaved or conifer tree but
rather in its own order, Ginkgoopsida (gink-go-OP-si-da).
Interestingly it has a combination of features of ferns, pines
and hardwoods trees and is thought to have been the first tree to
evolve. Its leaves have a system of veins unlike any other tree
leaf.
The word ginkgo is the Japanese version of the Chinese
ideogram which is pronounced "Yin-kuo," meaning silver
nut. An ideogram is a character or symbol representing an idea
or thing without expressing a particular word or phrase for it.
And, yes, the white oily nuts are edible when cleaned and
roasted, tasting like almonds or cashews.
Include some ginkgo trees in your 2004 spring planting
program. You won’t be sorry!
Golden leaves and putrid-smelling fruit litter the ground
beneath an old female ginkgo tree.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 11/15/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
