I'm finding conflicting information about the odor in the big pom-pom flowers of Parkia biglobosa.
As one would guess, they're primarily bat pollinated (although capable of bee pollination), and so - reportedly - have a strong scent, like most bat-pollinated flowers. However, most bat-pollinated flowers have a strong
bad scent.
This paper:
https://watermark.silverchair.com/j.1095-8339.2001.tb01084.x.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAdEwggHNBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggG-MIIBugIBADCCAbMGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMotkgRWL250R8q8UrAgEQgIIBhJe6GyzPPjH5mfM8ejeY9HQFvC0Tupjun85RaGjab3VYHpoyPlNPFSxUpcAKidgmpjfTrfG7aPg8a4-1M3C6d4vBgF0G-tKD6ID3jUq2ebGjuk4BGYKMpEwwNTbDEZhha1MI3I4vodg8tOmW8xlK1WIKnK4MkvrK0h9h2MAvgDD52vA7oDHF7VDd8FAnya3MkM7KkyofpoVO04cyeM9zhooB9YpMm6IfhpEt0r6zceEZBeME217C5EayjtrxHYLoWPDBMajZBHvzkSENMUIPWCoW9Lqon-6o1mvSxzyoeM0wk6G_BArMhjLuYnTaDfYCiV-exltG0puZGf__cIlfsCY-k8mADX20XBE4k74hdhAQOoAYrFPfhK361o8Z3pK-6AV7SBhPKyBh_YY5NCCTTYwUFM-DIMW22HvozA6TzAZYPlgDydT7hOcnT5lXPZm9_sZOSedgND4jW45iXdHseCcOJ67d7Gz_vNP9dkvv9cAXAdna21nj8E8mpIgmRF1RQbIk5wY... describes the scent of other Parkia species as "foetid, fruity or like cow manure", due to sulfur compounds, but finds no sulfur compounds in P. biglobosa. Their description of the "strong floral scent" of P. biglobosa (which peaks in the evenings) is "A heavy, sweet and somewhat stuffy scent".
However... this here:
http://www.worldagroforestry.org/treedb/index.php?theNode=Biology&keyattribute=Hermaphrodite... says that the flowers "may smell foetid and fruity like cow manure"
My *suspicion*, due to the striking similarity of the wording between the two sources, is that the World Agroforestry site is just getting that from a description of the smell of Parkia species' flowers in general, rather than specific for P. biglobosa. Specifically, the first paper cited "Wee & Rao, 1980; Hopkins, 1983; Gdnmeier, 1990" for that description, so I imagine that World Agroforestry gets that description from them too. But this is just a suspicion on my part.
Has anyone here ever smelled a P. biglobosa flower?
Also, while were on the topic of P. biglobosa, I've seen conflicting information about how big they are when they start to flower. I've seen one person say "Trees start flowering at 5 - 7 years while still comparatively small.", suggesting that they might even be able to be grown in a pot; while another source says that they're quite large when they fruit, which begins at 5-10 years; and another source says that they grow up to 1 meter in the first year and up to 7m in the first 6 years. Is that "small size at first flowering" only if you dwarf them?
