The felling of the smelliest tree in Barcelona pits the residents of Les Corts against each other

BarcelonaTraditionally, the main reason for discord among the residents of the Les Corts neighborhood in Barcelona has been the Camp Nou and its impact on mobility in the area on match days. For some time now, however, in the vicinity of the Barça stadium, the debate that ignites the most passion is not football, nor refereeing, nor even the construction work on the 'blaugrana' coliseum. The great element of division is a tree: the Ginkgo biloba.

The epicenter of the discussion is located on Comandant Benítez street. As ARA explained, the residents have lived for a long time with what could be classified as the smelliest tree in the city. Even the Biodiversity Atlas of the Barcelona City Council details that this deciduous tree native to China has a peculiarity: its fruit, which ripens just at the beginning of autumn, "smells like rancid butter".

The adjectives used to define this perfume are more blunt among the neighbors who live near these trees. Among those affected, epithets are used to suit all tastes. There are those who speak of the smell of vomit, the aroma of rotten eggs, or the stench of a sewer. Now, after years of struggle, they have finally gotten their way: this Monday, the City Council began cutting down the female specimens of this tree on this street, the ones that produce the foul-smelling fruit.

Signs against Collboni

The measure, however, has not sparked unanimous joy among the neighbors. This Monday, as the Parks and Gardens workers began to fell the first specimens amidst the strong smell of the fruits, one could grasp the division of opinions that exists in the neighborhood. On all the yellow posters with which the City Council announced the felling of the trees, someone had stuck other posters with criticisms of the decision and even attacks on the mayor in which one could read: "Collboni murderer, Parks and Gardens accomplices", "Save the ginkgos" and "Twenty fewer trees in the neighborhood in exchange for four votes".

"This is the national sport. There are people here who are never satisfied with anything," commented Josep resignedly while observing, next to a neighbor, how the workers were cutting down one of the trees right in front of his building. "If they like these trees so much, they should fill their dining room at home with these smelly little balls. Let's see if they would still defend them then," he said.

One of the people who will miss the trees is Rosa, who this Monday morning was busy collecting with a bag the ginkgo fruits that had been left in the tree pits after the felling. She explains that a friend of hers and she herself –both Chinese– use them for the medicinal properties they have. She warns, however, that they must be used prudently, because otherwise it can be harmful.

The president of the Les Corts Sud Neighborhood Association, María Dolores Parrilla, also does not understand those who are now opposing the felling of trees. "There are those who, instead of defending their own criteria, prefer to attack from behind," she laments, and assures that no neighbor has contacted her to argue against the cutting down of the ginkgo trees. Parrilla emphasizes that they have been fighting for years for the removal of these trees from this street.

During this time they had put several solutions on the table: from chemically treating the trees so they do not bear fruit to finding ways to harvest the fruit before it hits the ground, explodes and releases the smell. They even tried, unsuccessfully, in the last participatory budgets to have the trees removed from the street and replanted elsewhere; in less crowded areas, closer to Collserola and, above all, further from their balconies.

Finally, however, the City Council has opted to cut them down. Municipal sources point out that the Les Corts district, at the request of the neighborhood, requested the removal of twenty-one female specimens of Ginkgo biloba, nineteen of which on Comandant Benítez street. The same sources explain that in their place, starting next week, they will begin to plant male specimens of this same tree, since they do not create the fruits of discord.