If you smell a certain male bodily fluid in Toronto don't worry it's just trees
Summer has arrived and with it the typical floral aromas of life blooming around the city. But there's one smell wafting from a specific type of tree in Toronto, its odour reminding passersby of a certain male bodily fluid.
Known as the tree of heaven, this deciduous tree blooms every June, becoming the annual butt of jokes for its characteristic biological funk.
BREAKING: Ailanthus Altissima have bloomed in toronto TODAY. It’s wildly fecundly fragrant. Please read this important report & do watch the video. And go out and take a deep wiff! It’s magnificent. https://t.co/f8V0AaD6lW
— Shawn Micallef (@shawnmicallef) June 22, 2022
Its scientific name is Ailanthus Altissima, but the tree often goes by…ummm…another unofficial name.
Love a good cum tree
— Pedro 🪩🌈 (@christmasguey) June 22, 2022
The pungent smell of a tree of heaven in bloom may catch you off guard on a walk about the city, but I assure you, you're almost certainly smelling a tree and not some nearby shenanigans.
I wonder what seed it comes from. Kind of a spunky, I mean funky, smell.
— Meegs is fatigued (@HMeegs) June 22, 2022
The telltale stank comes (don't make that face at me) from chemicals released by the tree's flowers.
What you're actually smelling is a combination of trimethylamine and dimethylamine, derivatives of ammonia that are also found in…let's just call it male reproductive fluid.
This chemical cocktail can also give the tree a bit of a fishy odour when it isn't busy smelling like...uhh...that first thing.
Just seconds ago I went out to the front porch and thought, SOLSTICE NIGHT OF THE SEMEN TREES
— C Tunnacliffe (@ctunnacliffe) June 22, 2022
The Ailanthus Altissima is common in Toronto parks and neighbourhoods, and while its omnipresence suggests that people actually want the trees around, the genus instead spreads through pollination and is referred to as a weed tree for its ability to spread.
And for anyone out there who thinks it might be a good idea to intentionally plant one of these trees in your yard, think of the smell. You haven't thought of the smell.
