Ginkgo

Scientific

Ginkgo biloba is the only living species in the order Ginkgoales, the class Ginkgoopsida, and the division Ginkgophyta. Every other member of these higher taxa is extinct — the species is a phylogenetic relict whose closest living relatives are conifers and cycads. Jurassic-era fossil ginkgo leaves are essentially indistinguishable from modern ones.

The species is dioecious (separate male and female trees). Female trees produce fleshy seeds that smell distinctly of rancid [[butyrate|butyric acid]] when they decompose — for which reason urban planners almost exclusively plant male ginkgos.

Cultural and historical

Native to southwestern China, where the species was cultivated in Buddhist temple grounds for over 1,000 years. Western botanical contact came through Engelbert Kaempfer at Nagasaki in the 1690s — the species’ European-language name traces to his slightly garbled transcription of the Japanese reading.

Six ginkgo trees stood within 1–2 km of the Hiroshima atomic blast hypocenter on August 6, 1945. All six survived; though scorched and severely damaged, they leafed out the following spring. The trees are alive today as designated hibakujumoku (atomic-bombed trees).

The species’ urban-pollution tolerance — combined with its golden autumn color and unique fan-shaped leaves — has made it one of the most-planted street trees worldwide. Many of the ginkgos along Madison Avenue in [[beacon-ny|New York]] or Beijing’s Imperial Palace grounds are among the species’ continuous-cultivation lineage going back centuries.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

• Shares approach with: [[dawn-redwood]] · [[cycad]] · [[yangmei]] · [[tea]] · [[star-anise]] · [[shiso]]
• Member of: [[plants]]

Sources

• Wikipedia — Ginkgo biloba
• Peter Crane, Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot (2013)

A plant entry in the 0mn1.one [[directory]].