Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Gingko biloba, also known by its English name “the maiden hair tree,” is an ancient tree said to have originated in Southeast Asia, specifically, in the valleys of the Zhejiang province in China. It belongs to its own division of Gingkophyta, and in this division two of the three genera are extinct with the Gingko genus being the only still alive, which makes it the oldest tree species on the planet. Many say that this tree is a living fossil since there is archeological evidence that it was present during the Early Jurassic period, which was 201.3 million years ago when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. This species’ survival through the ages is attributed to its stress resistance and adaptability to a number of different conditions. This tree can survive in non-ideal urban conditions, and it is even said that Ginkgo trees were found to have survived the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan. It is slow growing with maturation being 20-30 years after germination and seed bearing being 30-40 years after germination, and it can live over 1,000 years (Isah, 2015).
Figure one: Photograph by Nidhi Goyal. Image depicts a 1,400 year on Gingko tree planted during the Tang Dynasty.
The Ginkgo tree is dioecious, and this means that each tree either has male or female flowers, and it is also a conifer, which means its leaves change color during the seasonal cycles. The Ginkgo tree reaches about 50 to 80 feet in height and 30 to 40 feet with a growth rate of 1 to 2 feet per year, but this growth rate is highly dependent on its environmental conditions. The bark is gray and rough with furrows are varying degrees of depth. The leaves of the Ginkgo tree are very unique in shape. They are fan shaped and flat with irregular notches along the rim with a deep groove in the middle, which creates two distinct lobes. The stomatal pores where the leaf absorbs CO2 are slightly recessed and this means they are able to prevent more water loss.
https://garden.org/plants/photo/546091/
You might have experienced an extreme putrid smell while you have walked along Grand Avenue in the fall, and this is thanks to the female Ginkgo tree. In the spring the female trees grow pistils from their leaf clusters that are about an inch long with two bulb-like structures on the end that get fertilized by the pollen produced by the male flowers. The male flowers will produce small white growths from the base of the leaves, and they will release pollen to fertilize the female flowers. After fertilization, a seed will begin to grow and mature and fall off come autumn. The seed is coated in a thick seed coat that is soft and fleshy.
The images above depict the fruit, male flowers, and female flowers. https://garden.org/plants/photo/493062/
Due to its lengthy existence on this planet, the Gingko biloba is a sacred part of Chinese culture both religiously and medicinally. Though the tree is extinct in the mountains that it originated in, there is evidence that shows that Chinese monks preserved and cultivated the Gingko tree in the Tianmushan forest for medicinal purposes for 1,000 years. Traditionally, the leaves were used for farming purposes as an insecticide and fertilizer, and the nuts were used to treat coughs, high temperatures, diarrhea, and as a topical ointment while the leaves and fruit were used for medicinal purposes as well (Hori, 1997). Recently, the leaf extract has been more intensively studied and shows promise in treatment of Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Other ailments it is used to treat are intermittent claudication, anxiety, glaucoma, memory and thinking, muscular degeneration, premenstrual syndrome, and Raynaud’s phenomenon (Ehlrich, 2015). The flavonoids and triterpene lactones of this tree are what give it its medicinal properties.
St Thomas Trees 