It’s that time of year again, folks: Depending on what neighborhood you live in across this fair city, look up (or down) and you’ll notice that your smelly friend the ginkgo (pictured) is once again in bloom. And with that, you can pretty much rely on the fact that some time in the next two months, you will step on one of the sour little female fruits that line the sidewalks of the city each fall, and you will track that stank around until you wipe it off your shoe like so much Chinese dog poo. But it’s not all bad news; even though it sounds like an urban myth, keep your eyes peeled and you may actually see older Chinese ladies harvesting these things. According to this NYT blog post from last year:

A helpful friend tells me that in Chinese, the fruit is called “Bai-guo,” or “white fruit.” It is thought to aid digestion, improve circulation, and prevent mental deterioration in the elderly.

Yes, New York has ‘em too — apparently many in Central Park — but here in Philly, you’ve got one man to blame for spending the next few months sliding across smelly balls on your way to work: William Hamilton, who brought the stank over in the late 1700s when he was designing The Woodlands. But he’s dead now. So hold your nose and suck it up like the rest of us. Ginkgo, who could have known you would e’er provoke the classic Philadelphia response?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 12:24 pm.