photograph

Tree in Lengqi, Luding Xian, Sichuan. Height 30 m, girth 12.4 m. "It is said that it was planted while Zhu Geliang went on an expedition to southern Sichuan during the Three Kingdoms. Up to now it is more than 1,700 years old" (6).

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Bark (2).

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Fruits and foliage (2).

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Foliage from a tree in the Sacramento Capitol Arboretum [C.J. Earle].

Ginkgo biloba Linnaeus 1771

Common Names

Maidenhair tree, ginkgo, YIN HING (Chinese) (1).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Salisburia adiantifolia .

Description

"Trees to 30 m. Crown somewhat ovoid to obovoid, tending to be asymmetric, primary branches ascending at ca. 45° from trunk. Long shoots faintly striate; spurs thick, knoblike or to 3 cm, gray, covered with bud-scale scars. Buds brown, globose, scales imbricate, margins scarious. Leaves fan-shaped, glabrous except for tuft of hairs in axils, blades 2-9.5 × 2-12 cm, mostly 1.5 times wider than long, apices cleft to truncate; venation dichotomous, appearing parallel; leaf scars semicircular; petioles channeled on adaxial surface, 2.5-8.5 cm. Seeds obovoid to ellipsoid, yellow to orange, 2.3-2.7 × 1.9-2.3 cm, mostly 1.1-1.2 times longer than broad, glaucous, rugose, with apical scar, maturing in single season, usually 1 per peduncle, occasionally polyembryonic, outer coat foul-smelling; peduncles orange, glaucous, ridged, 3-9.5 cm, collar broadly elliptic, 7.2-8.6 mm broad. 2 n = 24" (1).

Range

Although Ginkgo biloba is generally agreed to be native to China, it is not clear that the species currently occurs there in the wild. The species is reported to occur naturally in remote mountain valleys in China's Zhejiang province, where as stand has been preserved as the 1018 ha Tian Mu Shan Reserve. This area has supported human activities for approximately 1500 years and it is thus plausible, given the long history of ginkgo as an ornamental species in the area, that its persistence at this site has been facilitated by human actions. Regardless of its origin, the "population is biologically significant by virtue of its long survival in a semi-natural state under conditions of intense interspecific competition. Many of the trees [grow] on disturbance-generated microsites, such as stream banks, steep rocky slopes, and the edges of exposed cliffs. [Many] individuals are multitrunked, consisting of at least two trunks greater than 10 cm in diameter at breast height. Most of these secondary trunks originated from root-like 'basal chichi,' that are produced at the base of trees that have experienced damage from soil erosion or other factors. No Ginkgos less than 5 cm in basal diameter were found in the mature forests of Tian Mu Shan" (5).

The great majority of ginkgoes live as ornamentals. In this role the species is nearly cosmopolitan, planted in temperate and subtropical areas around the globe (1).

Big Tree

A specimen in Lijiawan, Guizhou, China is 40 m tall with a dbh of 471 cm, and another at Dabao in Gansu is 60 m tall with a 286 cm dbh (2). One at Yongmun-san temple in South Korea is 36 m tall with a 457 cm dbh (3).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

"The unusual shape of the crown, natural resistance to disease, and yellow leaf color in fall make this a favorite street and park tree. Ovulate trees produce an abundance of seeds, which have a particularly obnoxious odor; the planting of ovulate ginkgoes is often discouraged for this reason. Seeds (canned with fleshy outer coat removed) are sold in ethnic markets as "silver almonds" or "white nuts," the gametophyte and embryo being edible. Oils from the outer coat are known to cause dermatitis in some humans" (1).

An online review of modern and traditional medical uses of the Ginkgo is provided at (7).

Observations

Nearly every arboretum or botanical garden in a temperate or subtropical climate will contain specimens. One of the oldest and largest in the West is at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (UK). The supreme specimens, though, are to be found on temple grounds in China, Korea and Japan.

Remarks

The name ginkgo is derived from the Chinese YIN , silver, and HING , apricot, in reference to appearance of the seed (1).

"Pollination March-April; seeds shed August-November.

"In North America, ginkgo seeds minus the fleshy outer coat have been found beneath various species of trees up to 150 m from the nearest seed-producing ginkgo. The dispersal agents were almost certainly birds, possibly crows. A cache of ginkgo seeds, in association with scats of raccoons [ Procyon lotor ], was found in a tree crotch about 50 m from the nearest source of the seeds (J. W. Thieret, pers. comm.). Apparent animal dispersal of ginkgo requires further study" (1).

Ginkgo has a vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza; one symbiote is Glomus epigaeum (4).

Citations

(1) R. David Whetstone in Flora of North America online .
(2) Jin-xing, L., H. Yu-shi, and W. Xian-pu. 1996. Old Ginkgo trees in China. Pages 32-37 in: International Dendrology Society Yearbook 1995.
(2) Liu 1970 .
(3) Carder 1995 .
(4) Fontana, A. 1985. Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas of Ginkgo biloba L. in natural and controlled conditions. New Phytologist 99(3):441-447.
(5) Del Tredici, P., Ling Hsieh and Yang Guang. 1992. The Ginkgos of Tian Mu Shan. Conservation Biology 6(2):202-209.
(6) Ma Shitu. 1985. The Rare Plants and Flowers of Western Sichuan. 1985. Sichuan People's Press.
(7) Foster, Steven. 1998. Ginkgo. Published online at http://www.stevenfoster.com/education/monograph/ginkgo.html , accessed 27-Jan-1999.

See also:

The ginkgo tree of Otoshi Jinja Shrine (Kyoto Prefecture, Japan). URL=http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/intro/21cent/kankyo/200/jk28e.html, accessed 25-Jan-2000.

Also, at the same website, The 'Chichi Icho' ginkgo tree of Kokubunji Temple (Kyoto Prefecture, Japan). URL=http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/intro/21cent/kankyo/200/ma3e.html, accessed 25-Jan-2000.


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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/~earlecj/gi/gi/index.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail: earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 26-Feb-1999

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