Do most trees have genders?

Most trees carry both male and female reproductive parts in the same flower — called perfect flowers or cosexual trees. Only about 6% of tree species are dioecious, meaning one individual is strictly male and another strictly female. The vast majority of trees in your Surrey yard don't have a gender in any fixed sense.

Which trees in BC are male or female?

Common dioecious trees in BC include ginkgo, holly, poplar, cottonwood, and some ash species. Ginkgo is the one most people notice — female ginkgos produce fruit that smells strongly in autumn, which is why nurseries typically sell male varieties. Holly requires both a male and female plant within pollination range to produce berries.

Can I tell if my tree is male or female without calling an arborist?

Often, yes. Ginkgos reveal their sex through fruit production in autumn — females fruit, males don't. Hollies reveal themselves the same way: berries or no berries. For most other trees, the distinction is less visually obvious. For cosexual or monoecious trees — the majority — it isn't meaningful. You don't need a professional to identify tree sex in most cases.

Why does my tree produce a lot of pollen but no fruit?

If you have a dioecious tree producing only pollen and no fruit or berries, it's male. Nurseries often sell male-only ginkgos and hollies to avoid fruit mess, which contributes to high urban pollen loads. Crown reduction (20–30% canopy size) can reduce pollen output from a specific tree without removing it. Costs typically run $500–$1,200 depending on size and access.

Does tree gender matter for tree care and pruning?

Generally not. Pruning technique is the same regardless of reproductive system. The exceptions are dioecious species where you're managing fruit production — a female ginkgo might be pruned or removed specifically because of fruit drop. For most pruning decisions, structure, health, and proximity to structures matter far more than reproductive biology.

Do pine trees have male and female cones?

Pine trees are monoecious — they produce both male and female cones on the same tree. The small, soft pollen cones are male; the large, woody seed cones are female. So a single pine is neither strictly male nor strictly female — it's both. The same applies to most other conifers: Douglas fir, spruce, and western red cedar all work this way.

Why does my holly never produce berries?

Holly is dioecious — you need both a male and a female plant within range for the female to berry. If your holly produces no berries, either it's male, or there's no male holly within 30–50 metres for insect pollination. A single female holly, isolated, won't berry regardless of how healthy it is. Check with your nursery when adding a companion plant — specific varieties are more compatible as pollinators than others.

Do Trees Have Genders?

Tree BiologyPublished September 10, 2026·Updated September 10, 2026·8 min read·By Jacob Nylund, Owner, Certified Arborist

Do Trees Have Genders? What an Arborist Actually Looks For

Oak tree catkins hanging from branches in spring — do trees have genders in Surrey BC — Photo by Elijiah Pearson on Pexels

TL;DR

Most trees aren't male or female — they produce both pollen and seeds in the same flower. Only about 6% of tree species are dioecious, meaning one tree is strictly male and another strictly female. In BC, common examples include ginkgo, holly, and poplar. This matters if you want fruit, manage allergies, or are planting new trees. For most other purposes, tree gender is more academic than practical.

Trees are complicated. (You may have noticed.) The short answer to "do trees have genders" is: sort of, yes — but most trees don't work the way animals do.

Most flowering trees carry both male and female reproductive parts in the same flower. So strictly speaking, they're neither male nor female. They're both.

That said, some trees are exclusively one or the other. And knowing the difference has actual practical value — especially if you're tired of raking up ginkgo fruit or wondering why your holly never berries.

I'm Jacob Nylund, an ISA Certified Arborist based in Surrey, BC. I've been assessing trees in the Lower Mainland since 2009 — over 3,200 jobs. Most people asking this question are really asking something more specific: "why is my tree producing so much pollen" or "why won't this tree fruit." Gender is usually part of the answer.

Trees are more flexible than you think

Picture a flowering apple tree. Each flower has both stamens (the male, pollen-producing parts) and pistils (the female, seed-receiving parts). One flower, both sexes. Botanists call this a "perfect flower."

This is the most common arrangement. The majority of trees in your Surrey yard — including ornamental species, most maples, and most oaks — fall into this category. They don't have a gender in any meaningful fixed sense.

The complication comes from the minority of species that handle things differently. Understanding the four reproductive systems clears up most of the confusion.

Close-up of birch catkin showing male pollen structures — tree gender explained in Surrey BC — Photo by Bejan Adrian on Pexels

The four ways trees reproduce

Cosexual (perfect flowers): One flower, both male and female parts. This covers most trees — apples, pears, most oaks, cherries, magnolias. A single tree can produce seeds on its own. "Gender" isn't really the right concept here.

Monoecious: Separate male and female flowers on the same tree. The tree has both, but in different locations. Douglas fir, birch, hazel, and most conifers — including western red cedar — fall here. The male flowers look completely different from the female ones: catkins on a birch, small pollen cones on a fir, large seed cones further up the tree. One tree, two kinds of flowers.

Dioecious: Male and female flowers on completely separate trees. One tree produces only pollen. Another produces only seeds or fruit. This is what most people mean when they ask about tree gender. Holly, ginkgo, poplar, ash, and some maples fall here. About 6% of tree species worldwide are dioecious — so the strictly male/female category is actually the minority.

Polygamous: A mix — some flowers are perfect, some are single-sex, sometimes on the same tree. Bigleaf maple (our big local species) can behave this way, varying from year to year.

Nine out of ten questions about tree gender are really about dioecious species. That's the category where "is this tree male or female" is an answerable question.

Bee pollinating willow catkins — male tree pollen and tree reproduction Surrey BC — Photo by Jean-Paul Wettstein on Pexels

Dioecious trees in BC — the ones with a strict male/female split

If you're in Surrey or the Fraser Valley, here are the dioecious trees you're most likely to encounter:

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba). One of the most distinctly gendered trees you'll find in Surrey gardens. Male ginkgos produce pollen. Female ginkgos produce seeds — which, when ripe, smell like something you'd rather not describe at the dinner table. (Butyric acid, if you want the technical term. It's the same compound that makes vomit smell the way it does.) Nurseries sell male-only ginkgos for exactly this reason. If your ginkgo smells awful in autumn, you have a female.

Holly (Ilex species). Want berries — the classic red clusters you see in December? You need at least one female holly and one male holly within pollination range. Male hollies produce pollen but no berries. A holly that never berries is either male, or there's no male nearby to pollinate it. The pollination range for most bees is 30–50 metres.

Poplar and cottonwood. Females produce the cottony seed fluff that drifts through the Lower Mainland in late spring. If you have a poplar dropping fluff on your car and deck every June, it's female.

Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Also dioecious. Harder to identify from reproductive signs alone, but relevant if you're managing emerald ash borer risk — treatment protocols sometimes vary by tree value and reproductive role.

If you're planning to remove a dioecious tree or assess whether it's worth keeping, a proper tree health assessment covers the full picture — not just gender, but structure, root health, and whether pruning is a better option than removal.

Apple tree blossoms with perfect flowers — do trees have genders Surrey BC — Photo by George Shervashidze on Pexels

What tree gender actually means for your yard

Fruit and nut production. If you're planting fruit trees, gender matters directly — but not in the way you might expect. Apple trees have perfect flowers, so a single apple tree can technically self-pollinate. Most varieties fruit better with a different compatible variety nearby for cross-pollination. The common mistake: planting two of the same variety and expecting double the fruit. Two Macintosh apples don't cross-pollinate each other effectively. You need different varieties, not necessarily different genders.

For dioecious fruiting trees like mulberry or persimmon, you do need a male nearby — but the female is the one producing fruit. This gets confusing because "male tree" sounds like the productive one. It isn't.

Pollen and allergies. Male dioecious trees produce large quantities of pollen with no fruit. Landscape architects started preferring male ginkgos and male hollies to avoid fruit mess — and ended up with what some allergists now call "botanical sexism."

A city full of male trees means concentrated pollen with no female trees to capture it. I reckon this explains why spring allergy season has gotten measurably worse in North American cities over the past 30 years. We planted for low maintenance and got high pollen counts instead. According to ISA research on urban tree health, reproductive biology is now a factor in urban forest planning that most cities hadn't previously considered.

If pollen from a specific tree is a significant problem near your property, crown reduction (20–30% canopy size) reduces output without removing the tree. Costs run $500–$1,200 depending on size and access. Worth considering before committing to removal.

Can trees change gender?

Some can. It's unusual but documented.

In most dioecious species like holly, sex is fixed. But in some maple populations, individual trees shift their reproductive output year to year — producing more male or female flowers depending on available resources, light, and age. A 2009 study on sugar maple found that young, resource-stressed trees tend toward male flower production. As they mature and have more energy available, they shift toward female.

Rule of thumb: don't assume a tree that wasn't producing berries last year will never produce them. Stress, shading, and youth all affect output. Give the tree adequate light and soil health, and wait a season before concluding anything about its gender.

For the BC species that matter most in this context — Garry oak, bigleaf maple, Douglas fir, western red cedar — all are either monoecious or cosexual. None of them are strictly dioecious. So the gender question is less relevant for our native species than for ornamental plantings.

Spring buds opening on a tree branch — when tree gender matters for Surrey BC yards — Photo by Ann Perkas on Pexels

When you don't need to call an arborist about tree gender

This is the part most posts skip. I'll say it anyway.

Tree gender is mostly not something you need professional help to figure out. If you want to know whether your ginkgo is male or female, wait until autumn. Female ginkgos produce fruit. Male ones don't. That's the identification — no assessment required.

You probably don't need an arborist for:

Identifying tree sex in a dioecious species — observe it through a fruiting season
Choosing a male holly pollinator for your female — a good nursery handles this
Understanding why your fruit tree variety needs cross-pollination — again, the nursery

Where an arborist does add value:

A female ginkgo with fruit you're done managing — that's a legitimate removal job. A small one runs $400–$650 all-in; medium size (30–60 ft) runs $800–$1,400.
Crown reduction when pollen from a specific tree is the problem near a bedroom window — if size management rather than removal is the goal
A fruit tree that should be producing but isn't — root problems, soil chemistry, and pruning errors all affect fruit set and are worth a professional eye

Most of this you can sort out yourself with a season's observation and a decent field guide. The trees that need a professional eye are the ones with structural issues, root problems, or a removal question. Not a gender question.

Frequently Asked

Straight answers.

Do most trees have genders?: Most trees carry both male and female reproductive parts in the same flower — called perfect flowers or cosexual trees. Only about 6% of tree species are dioecious, meaning one individual is strictly male and another strictly female. The vast majority of trees in your Surrey yard don't have a gender in any fixed sense.
Which trees in BC are male or female?: Common dioecious trees in BC include ginkgo, holly, poplar, cottonwood, and some ash species. Ginkgo is the one most people notice — female ginkgos produce fruit that smells strongly in autumn, which is why nurseries typically sell male varieties. Holly requires both a male and female plant within pollination range to produce berries.
Can I tell if my tree is male or female without calling an arborist?: Often, yes. Ginkgos reveal their sex through fruit production in autumn — females fruit, males don't. Hollies reveal themselves the same way: berries or no berries. For most other trees, the distinction is less visually obvious. For cosexual or monoecious trees — the majority — it isn't meaningful. You don't need a professional to identify tree sex in most cases.
Do apple trees have male and female plants?: No. Apple trees have perfect flowers — each flower contains both male and female parts. A single apple tree can self-pollinate, though most varieties fruit better with a different compatible variety nearby for cross-pollination. The question with apples isn't male versus female; it's variety compatibility for pollination.
Why does my tree produce a lot of pollen but no fruit?: If you have a dioecious tree producing only pollen and no fruit or berries, it's male. Nurseries often sell male-only ginkgos and hollies to avoid fruit mess, which contributes to high urban pollen loads. Crown reduction (20–30% canopy size) can reduce pollen output from a specific tree without removing it. Costs typically run $500–$1,200 depending on size and access.
Does tree gender matter for tree care and pruning?: Generally not. Pruning technique is the same regardless of reproductive system. The exceptions are dioecious species where you're managing fruit production — a female ginkgo might be pruned or removed specifically because of fruit drop. For most pruning decisions, structure, health, and proximity to structures matter far more than reproductive biology.
Do pine trees have male and female cones?: Pine trees are monoecious — they produce both male and female cones on the same tree. The small, soft pollen cones are male; the large, woody seed cones are female. So a single pine is neither strictly male nor strictly female — it's both. The same applies to most other conifers: Douglas fir, spruce, and western red cedar all work this way.
Why does my holly never produce berries?: Holly is dioecious — you need both a male and a female plant within range for the female to berry. If your holly produces no berries, either it's male, or there's no male holly within 30–50 metres for insect pollination. A single female holly, isolated, won't berry regardless of how healthy it is. Check with your nursery when adding a companion plant — specific varieties are more compatible as pollinators than others.

Questions about your trees?

We'll tell you what we actually think.

If you're wondering whether a tree is worth removing, whether crown reduction would help with pollen, or why a fruit tree isn't producing — give us a call. We'll tell you honestly whether it's an arborist job or a trip to the nursery. No charge to ask.

We've been doing this in Surrey and the Fraser Valley since 2009. If we can't help, we'll tell you who can.

Call (437) 771-4741 See all tree services

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