Ginkgo biloba

Family Ginkgoaceae. According to experts, ginkgo is a relict of Japano-Chinese origin. It is assumed that its native habitat is the mountain forests of northeastern China. It grows there in a warm and humid climate.

Once there were so many trees that the oldest of them were cut for firewood. At present in China on Mount Memusha there exists a naturally formed ginkgo grove. The trunk diameters of the trees growing there reach 1.5–2 m.

Deciduous, dioecious tree, reaching 30–45 m in height, with a slender brown-gray trunk. The crown of young plants is broadly pyramidal, with a whorled arrangement of the main branches arising from the trunk at almost a right angle; with age its apex becomes blunted and the crown broadens. As a rule, male plants are more slender, with a pyramidal crown, while female plants have a broader, more rounded crown. None of the modern gymnosperms has leaves as decorative as those of the ginkgo. They are fan-shaped, often divided into two deep lobes (this is reflected in the species name), leathery, glabrous, slightly corrugated at the margin, bluish-green, on long petioles. Leaves occur singly or in clusters on shortened shoots. In autumn they turn beautiful golden-yellow tones, giving the tree an unforgettable appearance. The flowers are in small greenish-yellow inflorescences. The seed is covered with a fleshy coat (similar to a plum), pungently astringent in taste and with an unpleasant odor.

Decorative for its light trunk, distinctive whorled crown, and bluish foliage of remarkable leaves, very beautiful in autumn coloration. In regions favorable for its development it can be used to create distinctive ornamental groups against a background of conifers and evergreen species, in alleys and linear plantings, and singly on lawns. In cultivation since 1727.