Ginkgo Biloba :: Botany

Ginkgo biloba The oldest known living fossil, more than 5,000 years old is native to China. Ginkgo, maidenhair tree, has an average life span of 1,000 years. The oldest trees are serving in the temples of the Chinese's and Japanese Buddhist monks. These trees are considered to be very sacred to their way of life. One of the traditions is the leaves and fruits have been used as a herbal medicine for over a thousand years. The female tree's fruit is a delicacy in food preparation also. Another reason for their stature in civilization is their ability to withstand many outside influences of nature. A tree in Hiroshima survived the atomic bomb of World War II in 1945 on the 6th of August. A 1 km distance from the center of explosion, it was the first to bud in September of the same year. The tree is now known as the "bearer of hope" for the people of Hiroshima. The temple was built around this mighty tree. The front stairs are divided in half to surround and protect the tree. "Engraved on it "No more Hiroshima" and people's prayers for peace." (1) Also in Japan, a shimenawa (cord of rice straw) is tied around the trunk of the tree to keep off evil spirits, showing how sacred these trees are to their civilization. Ginkgoaceae is dated back to the Paleozoic era. That is over 200 million years ago. The highest diversity of gymnosperms took place during the Cretaceous. The ginkgo was at one point found in numerous places in the world. Fossil records show a decline in the trees around the Tertiary. This is thought to be because of the extinction of dinosaurs, which were the main distributors of the seeds. The first mention in Chinese herbal medicine was during the Ming dynasty in 1436. Ginkgo is recorded as being introduced to the U.S. in 1784. It is considered to be the sole living link between the ferns and conifers. However two species, Ginkgoites and Baiera, of the genera ginkgo are extinct. Ginkgo biloba is the only living species. Although, one of the species thought extinct was found in Vantage, Washington near the Columbia River Gorge. The ginkgo beckii, after George Beck, lives in the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Structure Ginkgo can grow to be 20 to 30 meters in height and 9 meters wide with a trunk size up to 4 meters.