WEBVTT - Why Is the Bradford Pear Tree Bad – Even Beyond the Smell?

0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.760
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren

0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:12.200
<v Speaker 1>Bogel Bomb here. The smell of the Bradford Pear tree

0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.640
<v Speaker 1>is likely not what you'd expect if you've never encountered

0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.840
<v Speaker 1>one before. The tree is a common ornamental landscaping plant,

0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.599
<v Speaker 1>with its springtime blooms of copious, puffy white flowers and

0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.599
<v Speaker 1>its crimson foliage in the fall, and it was once

0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:31.080
<v Speaker 1>the darling of subdivision planners across the United States. But

0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.720
<v Speaker 1>it turns out the tree has a whole canopy of

0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.120
<v Speaker 1>flaws that are driving its reputation straight into the ground.

0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:43.120
<v Speaker 1>Bradford Pear is brittle, needs heavy watering, smells real weird

0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.479
<v Speaker 1>when it blooms, and compounding all of the above, it

0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:51.680
<v Speaker 1>reproduces wildly. According to the Washington Post, the tree is

0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:56.160
<v Speaker 1>a nightmare, an environmental time bomb, and an ecological marauder

0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:59.800
<v Speaker 1>destined to continue its spread for decades. The New York

0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:05.279
<v Speaker 1>Time I'm simply called it the most despised tree. But okay,

0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:10.320
<v Speaker 1>let's back up. We keep talking about the smell. Haters, trolls,

0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.240
<v Speaker 1>and straight up journalists will report that its flowers smell

0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.679
<v Speaker 1>vociferously like a combination of fish rot and seamen. The

0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:22.280
<v Speaker 1>fleshy rotting scent is strong enough that it attracts flies,

0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:27.520
<v Speaker 1>which are the trees principal pollinators. But the tree smells Okay,

0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.120
<v Speaker 1>it's still a tree. It gives us oxygen in this

0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.080
<v Speaker 1>dire world of obvious climate change, extreme storms, drought, and

0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.520
<v Speaker 1>countless associated maladies. Don't we need all the trees we

0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:43.840
<v Speaker 1>can get well? Yes, but the issues with the Bradford

0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:49.280
<v Speaker 1>pear are motley and menifold. First off, it's invasive to

0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.360
<v Speaker 1>the United States. A version of it, the calorie pair,

0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:54.560
<v Speaker 1>was brought over from China to the northwest of the

0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.520
<v Speaker 1>United States in the early twentieth century in an effort

0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.480
<v Speaker 1>let in part by botanist David Fairchild, who was partially

0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.680
<v Speaker 1>responsible for bringing Japanese cherry blossoms to Washington, d c.

0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.200
<v Speaker 1>The calorie was thought to be resistant to fire blight,

0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.520
<v Speaker 1>a serious bacterial disease that affects other pear trees. The

0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.640
<v Speaker 1>idea was to use the calorie as a strong rootstock.

0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.800
<v Speaker 1>Branches from varieties of European pairs that were not resistant

0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.359
<v Speaker 1>to the blight could be grafted on, giving them borrowed resilience.

0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.359
<v Speaker 1>Fast forward to nineteen sixty, a tree scientist at the

0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.320
<v Speaker 1>US Department of Agriculture in Glendale, Maryland, released the Bradford pear,

0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.040
<v Speaker 1>a cultivar of the calorie, to the public. It didn't

0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.400
<v Speaker 1>matter that it doesn't grow fruit. It was beautiful. People

0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.560
<v Speaker 1>loved it. It seemed perfect for suburban America, a nice,

0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.200
<v Speaker 1>neat canopy shape, not too big, seemingly hardy, and with

0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.880
<v Speaker 1>showy displays in the spring and fall. It became commonplace

0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:55.440
<v Speaker 1>across the United States. For the article this episode is

0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.720
<v Speaker 1>based on How Stuffworks, spoke with Alex Beasley, the donor

0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.120
<v Speaker 1>and public relations manager Trees Atlanta, a nonprofit with a

0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:06.640
<v Speaker 1>mission to quote protect and improve Atlanta's urban forest. Even

0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:11.000
<v Speaker 1>he doesn't like the Bradford pear, he said, for a

0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.040
<v Speaker 1>time this was the hot tree for contractors and home

0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.600
<v Speaker 1>builders to plant. It was easily sourced, fast growing, and

0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:25.920
<v Speaker 1>virtually indestructible, so all seemed well until it didn't. Through

0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.640
<v Speaker 1>the years and decades, problems with the tree emerged. The

0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.480
<v Speaker 1>fishy smell was one thing, but upon maturity, Bradford pears

0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:37.640
<v Speaker 1>and their branches become structurally weak. During storms, they can

0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.800
<v Speaker 1>cause all kinds of damage from falling and flying branches,

0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:43.960
<v Speaker 1>but once the tree had put down its roots in

0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.480
<v Speaker 1>North America, it wasn't going anywhere, in part because it

0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.920
<v Speaker 1>so easily propagates. A six months after blooming, the Bradford

0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.640
<v Speaker 1>offers clusters of seedy berries to birds, who then fly away,

0:03:55.920 --> 0:04:00.560
<v Speaker 1>poop out the seeds, and spread the tree to new forests. Further,

0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.240
<v Speaker 1>the Bradford paar is greedy with water. Their roots soak

0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.280
<v Speaker 1>up waters so well that they negatively affect other plants

0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:11.760
<v Speaker 1>and trees around them. Beasley said, if only people knew

0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.200
<v Speaker 1>that when they plant one of these trees, they've possibly

0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.960
<v Speaker 1>planted a hundred others, which have the power to ravage

0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.680
<v Speaker 1>a forest's trees, which countless numbers of wildlife depend on

0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.760
<v Speaker 1>the tree's invasive qualities certainly stand out. But let's consider

0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:31.080
<v Speaker 1>a counterpoint. The world has many invasive species, thanks largely

0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.920
<v Speaker 1>to what some argue is the most invasive species of all,

0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.520
<v Speaker 1>we Homo sapiens. As we have conquered the globe, we've

0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:42.040
<v Speaker 1>helped spread plant and animal life that have decimated untold

0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.239
<v Speaker 1>numbers of native species around the world. With that in mind,

0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:51.280
<v Speaker 1>does there come a time when invasiveness just becomes reality?

0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:57.719
<v Speaker 1>Beasley answers. Equivocally, he said, never replant with an invasive species.

0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.200
<v Speaker 1>This is about as bad as intentional planting English ivy

0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.000
<v Speaker 1>in your yard. You're dooming your neighbors for generations. When

0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.080
<v Speaker 1>there is an opportunity to replant, to help mend pass

0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.719
<v Speaker 1>damages to our urban forest, why not take it? Trade

0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.000
<v Speaker 1>out crate myrtle for a native hornbeam, trade out Leyland

0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.280
<v Speaker 1>cypress for Eastern red cedar, trade out a Bradford pear

0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.080
<v Speaker 1>for an oak. I just do not know how it's

0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.440
<v Speaker 1>legal to sell plants that we know are invasive. Ban

0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:26.599
<v Speaker 1>them for the same reason that you can no longer

0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:31.039
<v Speaker 1>smoke on airplanes, it adversely affects others. How can we

0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.599
<v Speaker 1>buy a plant that's so destructive to our forests and

0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:39.039
<v Speaker 1>causes millions, if not billions, in tax dollar remediation. So

0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.200
<v Speaker 1>what can we do? Consider supporting a local native plant initiative.

0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.719
<v Speaker 1>Always check with the local landscaping expert for planting or replanting.

0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.800
<v Speaker 1>If you want a tree with lovely white flowers in

0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:55.280
<v Speaker 1>the spring, consider the native dogwood. But is there anything else?

0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.719
<v Speaker 1>Beasley said, If only I had a Dolorean, yes, I

0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:04.760
<v Speaker 1>would wipe this tree from the American landscape. Strong words,

0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.440
<v Speaker 1>but not out of line with popular opinion. While it

0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.240
<v Speaker 1>was a briefly celebrated member of the US flora landscape,

0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.960
<v Speaker 1>to be a Bradford pear tree these days really stinks.

0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.520
<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article the dreaded Bradford

0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.880
<v Speaker 1>pear tree smell isn't very paarlike on HowStuffWorks dot Com,

0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.720
<v Speaker 1>written by Jamie Allen. Brainstuff is production of my heart

0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.039
<v Speaker 1>Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is

0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.200
<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio.

0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.520
<v Speaker 1>Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:39.599
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.