Spring is settling into Durango, bringing blue skies, buzzing bees, blooming flowers ‒ and smelly trees.
The stench – sometimes compared to urine, old eggs or rotting fish – is coming from the deceptively demure Callery Pear tree, and the explanation is rooted in pollination, said Heather Houk, La Plata County horticulture and agricultural production specialist.
Callery Pear trees can be seen at several locations around town, including just outside The Durango Herald offices in the 1200 block of Main Ave. The trees feature small white flowers that cluster together to make a bulb shape – and most people would never guess they pack such an olfactory punch based on their unassuming appearance.
The Callery Pear’s odor, which is caused by chemical compounds like trimethylamine, spermine and putrescine, is released in early spring to attract the trees’ primary pollinators, which include flies, Carrion beetles and some types of bees, Houk said.
The visually lovely, putrid smelling trees produce a pollen-rich protein nectar that is key to the diets of its pollinators, making the relationship mutually beneficial for the trees and its buzzing visitors, if not for the noses of passerbys out on spring walks.
Though the smell may cause humans to wrinkle their noses, it’s “delectable” to the visiting pollinators, Houk said.
“Smell is in the nostrils of the beholder,” she said. “Carrion beetles and flies are drawn to that rather unpleasant smell to us. ... We like our flowers to smell a certain way, but we can’t all have our way. ... Everyone’s got to eat.”
Flies and beetles are some of the first pollinators awake in the season, Houk said, and earlier blooming trees like the Callery Pear must adapt to attract who’s available.
“When you’re an early flowering tree or plant, sometimes you need to make accommodations to find your buddies,” she said.
Luckily for everyone’s noses, Houk said the smell usually dissipates within two to three weeks of blooming – meaning the stench should be taking its leave as April sets in.
epond@durangoherald.com
