My Tree Has Awful Smell - Pleeez Help Id Tree!

[helpmeplease]

Hello. New to this forum. I would appreciate any and all help. I have a tree that unfortunately resides about 10 feet outside my apartment window. It's a HUGE tree which doesn't turn color; ever green. But it's not a pine - ficus like. At night, particularly when it's warm, it releases a stench which can be picked up a block away. With all due respect, it smells like musk --- putrid smell of (and i am very sorry) semen. can someone please identify the tree? i have looked online for weeks and i cannot find it. please help.

[MaryG]

Where do you live? I know there's a tree in Australia that smells like that but forget it's name.

[helpmeplease]

Hi. I'm in Southern California; very uncommon tree found around the Los Angeles basin.

[Rich]

Lets get this straight. You have a large tree outside your appartment that smells of semen? Hmmm.

Do you close your curtains at night?

[donybee]

Smells like semen?? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[MrSeedy]

I think you said uncommon, so most likely you don't mean eucalyptus, since those are very common in southern California, but some folks , who don't like the eucalyptus might say they smell very strong and have an "unusual" smell, but I don't know that I'd call it like that! Does the tree have flowers or is it only the leaves that your're smelling??

[DandyLioness]

OMG Rich! You are hilarious!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[PRH]

helpmeplease -
O,M,G!!! I'm sorry, but that is funny! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Yea,there is a tree in Australia that can smell think that ( I guess ), I forgot the name of it to! Guess that tree must be doing well enough to smell that way ( I never heard of any plant around here that would even come close to smelling like that )! I'm sorry again,but that made my day get better already! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Phil :-) ;)

[Larry the Lamb]

Well, what more can be said? ;)

[toxinsmile]

lol! semen!... that is an irteresting way of discribing it.... :lol:
lets see, a stinky tree that smells like semen when it is warm in the evenings...sorry no ideas

[SilenceOfTheClams]

Do tell... what shape are the leaves of suspicious tree??? Fan shaped??? Perhaps a Ginko tree? Those ARE some horrid smelling trees once they mature....
Rich.. you are one sick puppy! :lol: :lol:

and one MORE thing... the google links that are appearing at the bottom of this page are WAY OVERBOARD!!!!!! <_<

[boo]

I was thinking of the ginko too but its only the female tree's fruit that smells and it's :unsure: more of a puke smell.

[boo]

Help stop animal cruelty or the fishy ***** smell? :lol:

[terese]

:lol: :lol: :lol: the first link i saw was for a tree farm...i was wondering what was wrong with that? :lol: :lol:

[boo]

heaven help us that they don't take over like horchow :lol:

[SilenceOfTheClams]

Boo... I'm sure it was the fishy smell link.... yup.. POSITIVE! LOL!

[Ginny42]

LMAO!!! :lol: :lol: I thought I was seeing things when I first saw that ad! :lol: :lol:

[terese]

<_< Don't even kid about something like that Boo. -_-

I'd google the smelly tree...but i'm afraid of what i would get. :ph34r:

[boo]

you could always try the keywords...

late at night, wood, semen, smell

[SilenceOfTheClams]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[terese]

:ph34r: :ph34r: why don't you try those key words first Boo. :unsure:

[boo]

Ok, don't do it.

I googled and the first link was Online Personals Ads & the second was a blog about crabs.

[terese]

-_-

[SilenceOfTheClams]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I WON'T DO IT!!! I WON'T!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Ginny42]

The only other smelly tree I come up with besides Gingko is this one:Ailanthus tree "tree of heaven" ('http://ohioline.osu.edu/b700/b700_51.html')

[decompost]

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/ozonetraveler/scareboo.gif
yipe!!!!





ooooo, better run, i could get into real trouble in here :lol: :lol: :lol:
(i've already had to un-write this post 4 times)
*<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>where's t'shock with that zapper of hers???</span>

[bjmots]

Teresee - time to get the whip out and get these folks back in their cages before this thread is out of control. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Rich]

<span style='color:red'><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Boo got censored. Boo got censored Boo got censored.</span></span>

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

And I still think my Bangkok joke was funny.

We get different adverts to you over here. What's the joke, I feel left out.

[SilenceOfTheClams]

Rich... truly.... it's BETTER to be left out!!!! TRUST ME! :lol:

[MaryG]

Well I Googled "Australian Tree Smelling Like Semen" and now I wish I hadn't. It was an education! Didn't find the name of the tree though.

[helpmeplease]

Guys, I'm glad all of you are having a field day with this situation. Very funny with the curtains joke - I thought this was a reputable, respectable forum where I can actually find people willing to help. I would have laughed if I wasn't so annoyed with the tree situation. That being said...

Thanks everyone for the google search terms. I did find the gingko and also that "heaven" tree prior to resorting to this message board. the leaf structures of the above trees are nothing like mine. plus, those trees bear fruit/berries, which are the cause of the smell, but this one seems to smell on its own. Perhaps it's just a really old tree that's having some internal decay.

Someone asked about leaf shape. It's green (Ever-Green) and is about the size of a quarter. The edges are frilled up and down, sort of like waves. The trunk is very porous. My neighbor one one side has the same tree as mine, except his does not smell and his actually has a flower. This is actually what led me to even use "semen" as a word b/c it makes me believe that there is some gender difference between the trees. is that possible? i know fruit trees have genders, but these...?

the closest looking tree i found is indeginous to australia, which looks like a scary giant tree with roots/vines that seem to come down from the branches itself (the name escapes me). there are no roots/vines coming out from this tree.

take care everyone...

[boo]

Any "reputable, respectable forum" would have kicked someone off that said a tree smelled like semen. :blink: I guess you hadn't read many blossom swap posts before posting. :rolleyes: we tend to have fun

good luck

[PRH]

helpmeplease -
:D I'm sorry if you were scared away! ( that was funny though -you'll have to admit that )! :lol:
I'm glad to see that you have been busy doing some research on that! To be honest with ya, gingko might have been it - some of them can smell pretty bad sometimes! But semen, I never though about that one in all my life, ( you sure gave a picture now - for sure)!!!
Yes, this is a fun board sometimes,but the people here are just as wonderful if not more!!!
Go read some of the posts around and you will see alittle about what I'm talking about! ;)
Again, I'm sorry if you were chased away, ( I don't think anyone that posted a reply ment to do that at all )! Hey, we welcome you here and feel free to post something again somewhere , we have a serious side to ,but it just adds sometimes to make a person laugh now and then over something! :lol:
I have done some research over your problem and you found out more than I did about it! I wish you luck with this and hope to see ya around this board posting again very soon! :D
Phil :-) ;)

[ungreenthumb]

i can't possibly think of any bad smelling trees, not even eucalyps, they smell strongly of anticeptics or strongly like a citrus left.

[MaryG]

I'm telling ya, I saw a documentary about Australia and the guide showed his lady traveller a tree that had bark that smelled like semen - I wasn't making that up.

[boo]

Could it be Chinese chestnut, Castanea molissima?

We believe ya Mary :D

http://www.uga.edu/fruit/chestnut.htm ('http://www.uga.edu/fruit/chestnut.htm')

A quote from the page...

During flowering, the inflorescences produce a pungent, displeasing odor, like that of human semen.

[SilenceOfTheClams]

<_< Helpmeplease.... my humble apologies if you interpreted our responses to your query as malevolent. Your post alone more than likely launched a feverish search by MANY members here in the forum~~~ am I RIGHT GANG?

The problem with boleen (sp?) searches is that although you're realllllly trying to find a link to answer your question... "quirks" occur and sometimes you just gotta remark. Serious apologies for making light of your topic... you may find that if you push us less "serious" people aside, you'll garner friendship, blossoms and a heckuvalot of knowledge.

Hopes that there's SOME kind of resolve to your odorous situation... Rich and I are going to stand in the corner now....RIGHT RICH?????? <_<

[helpmeplease]

Wow....you are all so nice. With all seriousness, I was not upset. I figured that the use of the word would cause some heads to turn. But, I figured as did you, that the post was not taken seriously - that I was making a mockery. I apologize if the post I made in reply was a bit snippy or rude. You have all been very kind and EXTREMELY helpful.

I will try and get a picture up at day light tomorrow...


And to all the ideas, I thank you ALL for helping. But, after checking some pictures of the family of trees y'all have identified, I know it's not: (1) gingko; (2) chestnut; (3) the heaven tree; or (4) euculptus (i adore these trees - the smell is nice !!!).

So, the search continues....

(sorry again, for using such vocabularly --- but can you think of another word that quite describes that smell??? lol...).

Detective Stink

[SilenceOfTheClams]

:rolleyes: We feel LOVED again! :wub: :wub: :wub:
My suggestion as I just left for Bluedog, is give a quick call to the nearest arboretum and ask to speak to someone "in the know" of non-native trees. Betchya dollars to bathmats, they'd be on the case!!!!!!!!!
(Rich... we can come out and play again! :D)

[SilenceOfTheClams]

OOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO Mr KOTTER~~~

Is it perhaps the CALLERY PEAR TREE?????? Am I RIGHT?!?!

I'm still researching but that's MY suggestion for inspection! :D

[helpmeplease]

Garden Diva,

Thank you...

It looks SO much like it - I think you may have nailed it on the look of the leaf, but it's not a fruiting tree. It produces no pods, or fruit, or flowers of any kind. Most simply, it's like a ficus. Green and leafy until the leaves die and fall. They do not die and fall at a particular time of the year...

If anything...it looks like a carob tree. look:

http://www.mistersf.com/high/index.html?hightreecity04.htm ('http://www.mistersf.com/high/index.html?hightreecity04.htm').

<---- sorry guys, i'm editing this, but you have to click on "Carob tree..." for some reason the link is not going there...

But even the carob tree has a pod that falls off. Notice, however, that they mention that it does not have a pleasant fragrance... hmmm...

And the search goes on...

Detective....

[SilenceOfTheClams]

I came across articles relating to these pear trees and bradford pear trees being planted thruout a university... the bradford is the "comparable tradeoff" in most plantings. Althought they ARE pear trees, the bradfords we have lining our dowtown streets do NOT bear fruit. The Callery Pears MAY be the same but several parks and school districts have them planted and a lot of reference to the horrid odors similar to your remarks abound.

I've learned A LOT here today... the quest will continue tomorrow for it's bedtime for me. Hang tough lil newbie.... we'll get the answer some how! Is there ANYWAY you can post a photo of the leaf? :D

I'll check in tomorrow...

[shann]

I have been having a look at the tree you said looks similar, we have one here in Aust that looks similar. But i would like to know if you can find out where the tree may be native to, and ask your neighbour where he may have bought it from and what the flower looks like.

To me the pictures i have been able to find on the Callery Pear looks like a type of Wattle, we have over here (its called a silver wattle)(from the pictures i have seen i could easily be mistaken though). I dont think it smells bad though.

But the smell you are describing except for the semen kinda smells like a Gidgee Gum or Acacia cambagei.

I may not be of any help but it may be worth a go.

Cheers :blink:

I put in a photo of a Gidgee its not real good but it may help

[Rich]

Glad we're all friends again. :lol: I was really restrained, I won't tell you what went through my head, but it made me laugh.

I don't even recognise British native trees, no I had no chance. They did get me sniffing my Ginko Biloba tree, but having never sniffed semen I couldn't tell if it was similar.

I've learnt a lot about some of you reading these posts. ;)

[MrSeedy]

I must say the only thing I've ever heard is maybe to put the tree on a diet of "celery"!! Don't ask??? Shades of an episode I saw on "Sex in the City"!!, but that had nothing to do with "smelly" trees!!

[erdine]

:lol: no wonder I love this place. you guys are just too much.and I learn things too.

[Nettle]

:ph34r: I was very tempted to post one of my usual (grossy) posts, but hey, I've learned and I am a good girl now.

you said that there are no fruits and no blossoms whenever? Thats odd.
It has to do something, I guess. Would be wonderful to have a piccy of a leaf or the structure of the bark.

[digiflower]

helpmeplease HI :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/rhjff/clipart/Welcome%20and%20Birthday/PICT0074_editedbsf.jpg

Good luck in finding out the name of that tree.

[MaryG]

MrSeedy! I saw that episode too - it was gross.

[helpmeplease]

ok, i've opened up a new topic. case of the stinky tree: REPRISE. I have attached pictures AAAAAND i found flower-y things. Case ALMOST solved...!!!

[Larry the Lamb]

Teresee - time to get the whip out and get these folks back in their cages before this thread is out of control. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Whats this about a whip? :lol: