The smell comes from butyric acid, which is also released in rancid butter. Butyric acid is also a component of foot sweat, as well as vomit. The Ginkgo fruit is in excellent company.
Ginkgo Party!
No Debbie,
I've heard of 'bow tie' but haven't gotten my claws on one yet. Add a pic if you can.
We have a seed-grown Ginkgo here, 30 years old and yet to flower. It's planted where, if female, it won't cause us any problems.
I tasted my first roasted Ginkgo nut a couple weeks ago at the NNGA meeting. I wasn't very impressed, but it was edible. Sort of like stiff tofu.
Guy S.
Wow stiff tofu, vomit, foot sweat, rancid butter, I am getting hungry. The question is then that seed grown is either male/female and male form comes from a cutting that has been shown to have a big "Y" chromosome? Just for we non-taxonomic commoners. This is the father to be. Just think when everyone plants all the selected male trees in the distant future there will be one female tree to continue the species. I will have a legacy!
Thanks for the ideas! Now I can name all my seedlings......
Ginkgo biloba 'Foot Sweat' (decumbent form)
Ginkgo biloba 'Rancid Butter' (best fall color)
Ginkgo biloba 'Stiff Tofu' (fastigiate)
Ginkgo biloba 'Projectile Vomit' (precocious fruiter)
Keep 'em coming; I know you'll all be willing buyers once propagation reaches critical mass.
Kneevin got my engineer mind interested. Here's what a google turned up at http://www.answers.com/topic/butyric-acid
Quoting:
Butyric acid, IUPAC name n-Butanoic acid, or normal butyric acid, is a carboxylic acid with structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. It is notably found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, and vomit, and has an unpleasant odor and acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste (similar to ether). Butyric acid can be detected by mammals with good scent detection abilities (e.g., dogs) at 10 ppb, while humans can detect it in concentrations above 10 ppm.
Its name was made from Greek βουτυρος = butter.
Butyric acid is a fatty acid occurring in the form of esters in animal fats and plant oils. The glyceride of butyric acid makes up 3% to 4% of butter. When butter goes rancid, butyric acid is liberated from the glyceride by hydrolysis leading to the unpleasant odor.
Normal butyric acid or fermentation butyric acid is also found as a hexyl ester in the oil of Heracleum giganteum (cow parsnip) and as an octyl ester in parsnip (Pastinaca sativa); it has also been noticed in the fluids of the flesh and in perspiration.
It is ordinarily prepared by the fermentation of sugar or starch, brought about by the addition of putrefying cheese, with calcium carbonate added to neutralize the acids formed in the process. The butyric fermentation of starch is aided by the direct addition of Bacillus subtilis.
Butryic acid is used in the preparation of various butyrate esters. Low-molecular-weight esters of butyric acid, such as methyl butyrate, have mostly pleasant aromas or tastes. As a consequence, they find use as food and perfume additives.
The acid is an oily colorless liquid that solidifies at -8 °C; it boils at 164 °C. It is easily soluble in water, ethanol and ether, and is thrown out of its aqueous solution by the addition of calcium chloride. Potassium dichromate and sulfuric acid (also known as sulphuric acid) oxidize it to carbon dioxide and acetic acid, while alkaline potassium permanganate oxidizes it to carbon dioxide. The calcium salt, Ca(C4H7O2)2·H2O, is less soluble in hot water than in cold.
There is an isomer, isobutyric acid, which has the same chemical formula C4H8 O2 but a different structure. It has similar chemical properties but different physical properties.
Henceforth, the newest clones:
Ginkgo biloba 'Flesh Fluids'
Ginkgo biloba 'Parsnip Perspiration'
Ginkgo biloba 'Putrefying Cheese'
Quoting:
I can't wait until I get to compost this magic perfect soil mineral amendment. my garden will take off! Mg, Dicalcium Phosphate, and Ca (as Calcium/Mg butyrate) Boy am I glad I planted this one. VV you forgot some: "Putrid neighbor eliminator", "Essence of Bulimia", and "Brie delight". LOLEach butyric acid contain: Calcium (as Calcium/Magnesium Butyrate) Magnesium (as Calcium/Magnesium Butyrate) Butyrate Other ingredients: Dicalcium phosphate, cellulose, magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide.
This message was edited Aug 6, 2006 1:07 PM
Hmmmmm...if 'Liquor Store' turns out to be female, it could have a name change to 'Massive Hangover' or 'Butyric Bender', the possibilities are endless. The only female I see in Dirr was named 'Mother Load'--couldn't they be a bit more inventive with their name---geeeeez. They should have joined DG.
Hey, why does my gingko cultivar have to be called "Foot Sweat?"
Scott
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