As late autumn approaches， it’s time to enjoy the golden ginkgo trees. But just as you go closer to take a photo， a very pungent smell hits your nose. Why are ginkgos so smelly？

Ginkgo trees can be either male or female. The female trees produce fruit while the male trees don’t.

The small “fruit” is ginkgo seeds， which have several layers. The fresh outer layer has butyric acid， the main source of the smell. When the fruit decays， the smell becomes stronger， which tends to keep animals away from eating the seedrof6LjMTowuUAMsDTMXZ0g==s. What a great way for the tree to protect its seeds！

Also， some animals interested in the smell may take the seeds away， enabling the seeds to grow in a space elsewhere.

Clearly， ginkgo trees fail to keep humans away since the fruit often appears in dishes， especially in Asian countries.

However， the seeds can be toxic. It’s advised that only a few cooked seeds should be eaten at a time.

隨著深秋臨近，又到了欣賞金色銀杏葉的季節(jié)。但每每想要走近銀杏樹拍照時，總有一股刺鼻的氣味撲面而來。銀杏果（白果）為什么這么臭呢？

銀杏樹是雌雄異株植物，結(jié)果的是雌株，不結(jié)果的是雄株。

小小的果實是銀杏果，有好幾層皮，新鮮的外皮含有丁酸——臭味的主要來源。果皮腐爛時，臭味會變得更強(qiáng)烈，這讓動物敬而遠(yuǎn)之，銀杏果也就避免了被吃掉的命運(yùn)，這是一種很好的自我保護(hù)機(jī)制。

當(dāng)然，有一些對銀杏果氣味感興趣的動物會把銀杏果帶走，讓銀杏種子在其他地方落地生根。

顯然，銀杏樹并不能讓人類離它遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)的，因為銀杏果經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)在菜肴中，尤其是在亞洲國家。

然而，銀杏果可能有毒，建議一次只吃幾顆煮熟的銀杏果。

Word Bank

pungent /'p?nd??nt/ adj. 刺鼻的

decay /d?'ke?/ v. 腐爛

toxic /'t?ks?k/ adj. 有毒的