Flowering “skunk trees” have been identified as the source of a foul odor that was reported in parts of Kaohsiung early yesterday, the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau said.
In a news release, the bureau said it received 10 reports before dawn yesterday of a stench resembling “pig feces” in the districts of Gushan (鼓山), Zuoying (左營), Niaosong (鳥松), Renwu (仁武), Sanmin (三民) and Fongshan (鳳山).
City workers sent to investigate the odor concluded that it came from flowering Sterculia foetida trees, which are commonly found along roadsides in Kaohsiung, the bureau said.
The tree, which is also known as the “wild almond,” “bastard