NYC's stinky gingko trees - New York News | NYC Breaking News

NYC's stinky gingko trees

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MYFOXNY.COM -

At this time of year, the fruit from a female gingko tree creates a real stink. But those who love trees say just give them a few weeks.

Every fall, around the first frost, these wrinkly gingkoes start to drop from high above, taking New York City smells to a new low. The gooey seed stinks.

The Asian tree is thought to have survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima roughly 10 percent of all trees in Manhattan are gingkoes.

Gingko trees go back about 2 million years .and are related to fossils that date back more than 270 million years. So they are probably not going anywhere anytime soon.

The Central Park Conservancy issued a statement about the trees.

"While the Conservancy itself has never planted female Ginkgo trees, quite a few can be found throughout Central Park," said Neil Calvanese, vice president of operations. "Their ripe fruit emits a pretty offensive smell for a couple weeks each year, but when their leaves turn Ginkgos are an extraordinarily beautiful tree. Conservancy staff and volunteers do their best to rake up fallen fruit to cut back on the smell this time of year."

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