Ginkgo
| Ginkgo | ||||||||||||||
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 Ginkgo leaf | ||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Ginkgo biloba L. |
The Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), sometimes also known as the Maidenhair tree, is a unique tree in the world today. It has no known close relatives, existing within its own class, the Ginkgoopsida (order Ginkgoales, family Ginkgoaceae, genus Ginkgo), one of the best examples of a living fossil. The Ginkgoopsida is now usually placed in the division Ginkgophyta. In the past it has also been placed in the divisions Spermatophyta or Pinophyta. Ginkgo is a gymnosperm (as opposed to an angiosperm), meaning "naked seed"; its seed embryos are not protected by a seed shell at pollination, but are exposed to the air.
Its name means "silver apricot" (銀杏 yÃÂÃÂn xÃÂìng in Chinese. The same name is used in Japan, where Ginkgo came later than in China through seeds, but the Japanese pronunciation is ginkyō, and this is what the Westerners heard in the eighteenth century. However, the modern Japanese reading is ichō or ginnan (although the Kanji text is the same). The modern Chinese name for it is 白果 (bái guǒ), meaning "white fruit."
The leaves are also unique among seed-bearing plants, being fan-shaped with veins radiating out with the leaf blade, sometimes bifurcating but never anastomosing (branching). The old popular name "Maidenhair tree" is because the leaves resemble some of the pinnae of the Maidenhair fern Adiantum capillus-veneris. Sometimes leaves are notched or lobed, but only from the outer surface, between the veins. The leaves are borne both on the more rapidly-growing branch tips, where they are alternate and spaced out, and also on short, stubby spur shoots, where they are clustered at the tips.
The seed is a 1.5-2cm nut, contained inside a light yellow-brown coloured, soft fruit-like coating 2-3cm in diameter. It is plum-like and attractive, but contains butanoic acid and thus smells like rancid butter (which contains the same chemical). Some people are sensitive to this or other chemicals in the fruit pulp, and when cleaning the nuts they should be handled with care, wearing disposable gloves, if sensitive. The symptoms are a rash or blisters similar that from poison-ivy. The seed is edible after shelling and after being cooked. The nuts are a traditional Chinese food, often served at weddings, and sometimes believed to have health benefits; some also consider them to have aphrodisiac qualities (unproven!). The trees are easy to propagate from seed.
The sexes are separate, some trees being female and others being male. In some areas, most trees planted are male stock grafted onto roots propagated from seed, because the male trees will not produce the smelly fruit.
The Ginkgo is a living fossil, with recognizable specimens of related ginkgos dating back 270 million years. It has long been cultivated in China; some planted trees at temples are believed to be over 1,500 years old. The first record of Europeans coming across it is in 1691 in Japanese temple gardens. Even so, for centuries it was thought to be extinct in the wild, but is now known to grow in at least two small areas in western China. Because of its status in Buddhism and Confucianism, the Ginkgo is also widely planted in Korea and parts of Japan.
The Ginkgo has the intriguing distinction of being one of the world's most urban-tolerant trees, often growing where other trees cannot survive. Some claim that only one tree, the Tree-of-heaven, is more urban-tolerant. This makes it all the more puzzling why all of its relatives died out. For this reason, and for their general beauty, they are excellent urban trees.
Ginkgos are often very long-lived. Some specimens are thought to be more than 2,500 years old.
Ginkgo as penjing in the Montreal Botanical Gardens
Extracts from the Ginkgo leaves contain flavonoid glycosides - among others - ginkgolides and are therefore used as a pharmaceutical. The extract has many properties but it is mainly used as memory enhancer and anti-vertigo agents. However, studies differ about its efficacy.