Ginkgo Biloba Health Article

Definition

Ginkgo biloba, known as the maidenhair tree, is one of the oldest trees on Earth, once part of the flora of the Mesozoic period. The ginkgo tree is the only surviving species of the Ginkgoaceae family. This ancient deciduous tree may live for thousands of years. Ginkgo is indigenous to China, Japan, and Korea, but also thrived in North America and Europe prior to the Ice Age. This drastic climate change destroyed the wild ginkgo tree throughout much of the world. In China, ginkgo was cultivated in temple gardens as a sacred tree known as bai gou, thus assuring its survival there for over 200 million years. Ginkgo fossils found from the Permian period are identical to the living tree, which is sometimes called a living fossil.

Description

Ginkgo trees may grow to 122 ft (37.2 m) tall and measure 4 ft (1.2 m) in girth. The female trees have a somewhat pointed shape at the top, like a pyramid. The male trees are broader at the crown. The bark of the ornamental ginkgo tree is rough and fissured and may be an ash to dark-brown in color. Distinctive, fan-shaped leaves with long stalks emerge from a sheath on the stem. Leaves are bright green in spring and summer, and turn to golden yellow in the fall. Ginkgo trees may take as long as 30 years to flower. Ginkgo is dioecious, with male and female flowers blooming on separate trees. Blossoms grow singly from the axils of the leaf. The female flowers appear at the end of a leafless branch. The yellow, plumshaped fruits develop an unpleasant scent as they ripen. They contain an edible inner seed that is available in Asian country marketplaces. Ginkgo's longevity may be due, in part, to its remarkable resistance to disease, pollution, and insect damage. Ginkgo trees are part of the landscape plan in many urban areas throughout the world. Millions of ginkgo trees, grown for harvest of the medicinal leaves, are raised on plantations in the United States, France, South Korea, and Japan, and are exported to Europe for pharmaceutical processing.