The Ginkgo

The Ginkgo is a deciduous tree. It can reach a growth height up to forty meters. Its bark is brown and creates a thick, corklike layer.

The young tree grows initially slim and even. That changes on older trees which can form a jutting treetop.

Its distinctive features are the fan-shaped, broad leafs, that are notched in their center. They are bright green in springtime and grow darker over the summer. In fall they color themselves bright yellow and drop around the beginning of November.

The Ginkgo is diocious. There are male and female plants. It blossoms in march. The female blooms ripen after fertilization to semen with edible center.

  The Ginkgo is a »living fossil«

It belongs, like nowadays coniferous trees, to gymnosperms. The tree originated from East Asia, where it was cultivated because of its semen and as a temple tree. It was brought by Dutch Seamen from Japan to Europe and is planted here since 1730.

Ginkgo plants exist for about 290 million years. There can be found fossils of nearby related species even in middle Europe.

Because of its biogenesis and rank of originally features, the ginkgo biloba counts as the oldest living fossil of the flora whose next relatives are all extinct.

Content:

The Ginkgo
The myth of the Ginkgo
The fruit of the Ginkgo
Use in cosmetics