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A 'rancid butter and vomit' scent is tainting the fall foliage at one of the California capitol's most picturesque parks. Two 75-year-old Ginkgo trees have begun to shed their leaves and seeds at State Capitol Park in Sacramento. The stunning golden foliage makes for perfect Instagram photos. But there's nothing like the smell of rotting sick to ruin a photoshoot. Female Gingko trees - likes the ones in the Sacramento park - produce seeds and fruit when they reach maturity at around 30 years old. Like many trees, the fruit falls off in the autumn. As it falls, it smashes and breaks unveiling a truly sickening odor. Unlike other trees, the seeds' coating is pungent with butyric acid, the same chemical that dominates vomit, according to the Arnold Arboretum botanical research institution at Harvard University. The smell has gotten so rancid that city officials have had to keep parkgoers away. 'These seeds, these beautiful orangish seeds are quite odiferous,' Ned Friedman, the director of Harvard's arboretum which is home to more than 16,000 trees including Ginkgoes, told Daily Mail. Officials for the Sacramento Department of General Services' facilities management division had to zip-tie metal barriers to the trees adorned with laminated signs that read 'NO PICKING THE GINKO FRUIT' to keep the public out. Foraging won't harm the trees, which are both in good health, but it will spread their offensive odor. 'Groundskeepers will keep the fences up and continue to rake up the dropped fruit as needed,' spokesperson Jennifer Iida told SFGate. Not only is there an eye-watering stench, the falling fruit is a slip hazard. The gooey insides can stick to the bottom of people's shoes. Iida told the Sacramento Bee that the trees were 'leaving the slippery flesh of the fruit on the sidewalk, lawn and the roadway creating an unpleasant smell and a potential safety hazard.' The Sacramento Department of General Services has received multiple inquiries from park visitors about the Ginkgoes. Iida said the 'pungent and unpleasant' culprits reach their peak in October and November. These California State Capitol Park Ginkgoes are two of three that occupy the park. They were planted in 1954 by former California Governor Goodwin Knight, who wanted to fill out the foliage. City officials have had to fence them up over the years 'depending on the fruit yield,' and the level of parkgoer complaints. Some cities ban female Ginkgoes altogether and actively encourage their removal. But the female trees aren't all bad, according to Friedman. 'I mean they're beautiful trees,' he told the Daily Mail. 'Have you seen them in the fall? So incredible. Gold colors. The leaves are this lovely fan shape.' Not only are they beautiful, the horrific stench does have a purpose. No matter how unappealing it smells. 'The smelly part on the outside is really meant to attract an animal that likes smelly, rotting stuff to eat them,' he explained. Some people even brave the horrible stench to collect the seeds, using them for cooking, medicine, or even to grow bonsai trees. They're used in some classic Asian dishes. Chefs strip down the fruit to collect the nuts underneath, which Friedman said are starchy with a mild flavor. 'On the inside is a hard shell and inside of that is what we refer to as the Ginkgo nut,' he explained. 'If you go to Japan or China or Korea, you will, you'll see dishes with Ginkgo nuts, which are quite tasty.' Ginkgo trees are one of the oldest living tree species in the world. They grow slowly but live for hundreds of years. Friedman said sometimes even well over a thousand. Fossils of the trees date back to 270 million years ago and originate in China. It's possible the rotten smell even attracted dinosaurs to eat the seeds and redistribute them. The Daily Mail reached out to the Sacramento Department of General Services for further comment.
