Latest news with #CalleryPear
Daily Mail
03-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Map shows why New York smells most disgusting in spring - and it's saving the city $8m a year
New York City is known for its array of strange smells, from urine to body odor, but one tree is filling the streets with a particularly unpleasant stench. The Callery Pear tree, which is in the same family as the Bradford Pear, has a distinctive smell that many people find disgusting. So if you find yourself scrunching your nose up this spring, that's why! The Callery Pear litters the Big Apple's streets in all five boroughs, so there's no escaping it. You might even find the invasive species beautiful due to its white flowers - it's one of the first to flower as winter breaks away. But the tree releases the compound trimethylamine and that's what causes the fishy smell, native New Yorker Olivia Rose told after sharing a recent TikTok. The compound can be found in semen and ammonia and it's a pollinator attractor. 'The fact that they attract pollinators now - mostly flies and beetles - is more of an ecological irony. The scent is designed to mimic decay - that's what pulls in the bugs. Turns out, some of them think semen smells like Byredo [perfume].' The peak stink comes between mid-March and mid-April as the tree begins to bloom. 'That's when they bloom and the smell is unmistakable - funky, fishy, and wafting through the city,' Olivia said. 'It's released during the early bloom. [The] Bradford Pear evolved to attract flies and beetles, many of which are drawn to the scent of decay.' The trees first came to New York City around the 1970s as 'as part of broader street beautification efforts,' Rose told 'There are plenty of invasive species growing around the city, but they were not planted with malice,' Olivia, who has a degree in landscape architecture from Cornell, told NYC has 65,591 of these trees and NYC Parks estimates it saves the city $8million a year through stormwater interception, energy conserved, and air pollutants removed. However, the trees aren't all they are cracked up to be, Olivia said. 'The Bradford Pear seemed like an ideal choice: a picturesque tree with a lollipop form, early white blooms, fast-growing, inexpensive, and able to thrive in polluted and compacted soil. 'It was thought to be sterile and low maintenance, but widespread planting of other Callery pear cultivars led to unexpected cross-pollination - sparking a wave of invasive offspring.' NYC no longer plants these trees and certain states, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, have banned the trees due to being invasive. 'They weren't kept for pollinators. It was a visual choice. It was fast. It gave impact. Pretty - and symmetrical,' Olivia told The trees are native to China and Vietnam that grow up to 26 feet tall. In the springtime, the tree produces white flowers, but as the weather gets cooler, it blossoms red, pink, orange, and more, according to NYC Parks.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Moving this tree in Kansas could get you in trouble starting in 2027, what to know
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Kansans will need to be careful in the years ahead as a tree quarantine settles into place to curb the growth of a major invasive pest. Kansas agricultural officials are cracking down on a tree which was first brought to the state for the beauty it added to outdoor spaces. Now, changing opinions has resulted in the tree, callery pears, being labeled an invasive species, resulted in the declaration of a quarantine and more general efforts to remove them from the state's soil. Heather Lansdowne with the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) told 27 News that, starting on Jan. 1, 2027, people will no longer be able to move or sell callery pear trees in Kansas. This quarantine, which targets callery pears and its relatives, was made official in February 2024 by KDA Secretary Mike Beam. 'Trees that are already planted are not affected by this quarantine, so anyone who currently has a Callery Pear tree is not required to remove it,' Lansdowne said. 'However, KDA supports efforts by partner agencies that offer replacement trees if Kansans wish to voluntarily replace their Callery Pear trees with a native species, and we encourage Kansans to consider doing so.' What are the pink mystery rocks scattered across northeast Kansas? Callery pears and their close relatives are considered a nuisance as they break easily during storms, causing property damage, take up space that could be occupied by native trees and cause a disruption in the natural ecosystem. Organizations like the Kansas Forest Service (KFS) and Kansas State University Research and Extension Office have been raising awareness for years now regarding the issues posed by these trees and offer removal tips. The 2027 quarantine includes several varieties related to the callery pear including trees like the Bradford, Cleveland, select, chanticleer, aristocrat and others. People found to be in violation of the quarantine may face fines for moving or selling these types of trees once 2027 rolls around. Lansdowne said the KDA began gathering input from the public in 2023 to find out what people thought about a possible quarantine on the trees. Responses indicated a strong sentiment among the general public in Kansas to tighten up restrictions on the trees. 'We received hundreds of responses from Kansans across the state, and the vast majority of them were supportive of restrictions on the Callery Pear tree due to the invasive nature of this species,' Lansdowne said. 'We were pleased to see this high level of support for this action, and worked with stakeholders to develop a quarantine that allowed reasonable flexibility while eventually resulting in a shift to healthy native tree species across the state.' Kansas hunting and fishing license bill fails to pass after veto, what that means People looking for help to remove these types of trees from their properties can consult with the KFS by checking out its website. You can stay up to date on upcoming tree buyback programs by signing up to the Kansas Canopy Newsletter. For more Kansas Outdoors, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
K-State research and extension upcoming callery pear program: pear down
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Abigail Gettinger and Lane Weins with K-State Research and Extension joined the 27 News morning newscast to discuss an upcoming workshop, Pear Down: Managing Callery Pears in NE Kansas. During the workshop, you can learn more about the Callery Pear, its identification, management, history, the negative effects the tree has on local ecosystems and more. The workshop is from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 9th at the Rossville Senior Center at 429 Pearl St. in Rossville. Exploring Topeka's oldest businesses and their lasting legacy The workshop is free but you do have to register, you can do so by calling 785-232-0062 or by emailing msbarron@ To hear more about the workshop and the Callery Pear, you can watch the interview above. To learn more about the workshop, click here. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Life finds a way: Why the Callery Pear Tree is such a problem in Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — They're a tree you won't see in many nurseries anymore. The Callery Pear and its variations are all over the state, with ongoing efforts by environmental organizations to remove them. Imported from Asia, the trees were originally used as landscaping for their more desirable qualities. They're big and round, with white flowers blooming in the Spring. But their drawbacks quickly became apparent, with the smell being most obvious. The Kansas Forest Service says for the Sunflower State the problem grows much deeper than that. 'It also has kind of a more ominous nature to it,' Shad Hufnagel, Forest Health Director for the Kansas Forest Service, said. 'They grow so aggressively that they will push out native vegetation and disrupt natural ecosystems.' The tree was thought to be incapable of reproducing, which was part of the appeal. 'These trees that were initially … independently sterile, have found a way to cross pollinate because of these cultivars that have been developed, including the Bradford Pear,' Hufnagel said. The Bradford, Cleveland Select and Aristocrat are some of the sub-variations (cultivars) of the Callery Pear. To mitigate the spread, the Forest Service are going so far as to renew their buy-back program for Callery Pears in 2026. The tree is well-known to nurseries in Wichita, like Johnson's Garden Center. 'I hate to cut down trees, but if they're causing problems then it has to be dealt with,' Ryan Johnson, Assistant Manager at Johnson's Garden Center said. He hasn't seen any this year, but Johnson frequently deals with customers looking to replace their Callery Pears. He and the Forest Service agree that these trees and their cultivars are ill-suited for the Kansas environment. 'For Kansas, at least. It's just very structurally not sound for our winds. [With] the branching structure, you can lose half that tree in a heavy wind storm,' Johnson said. Losing your pear tree doesn't mean there aren't options. Local nurseries offer plenty of other trees, perfectly suited for your garden and for the state. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
