THE MAIDEN-HAIR OR GINKGO TREE. 299 



cluster of from three to five leaves on the top of each^ very 

 closely placed, somewhat vertical. The male catkins appear 

 with the leaves in May, on the wood of the preceding year, or 

 on old spurs, are without footstalks, of a yellow colour, and one 

 inch and a half long. The female flowers are produced in 

 (more or less) clusters, on very long footstalks, each in part 

 enclosed in small cups at the base, formed by the enlargement 

 of the peduncle. Fruit, globular or ovate, one inch in diameter 

 drupaceous, or fleshy outside, on very long, slender footstalks, 

 each containing a single bony nut or seed, of a whitish colour. 

 Seeds, somewhat globular, tolerably large, covered with a hard, 

 bony shell, smooth externally, and tapering to both ends, and 

 enveloped in a light green or yellowish fleshy pulp, covered 

 with a smooth, glossy, yellowish skin outside. Seed-leaves in 

 twos. 



A large, deciduous tree, with rather a conical-shaped head, 

 and straight stem, covered with a greyish, rough bark when old, 

 and with the sexes on separate trees. 



It is found abundantly in China and Japan, where it is called 

 * Ginkgo,' growing from 80 to 100 feet high, and from six to 

 twelve feet in diameter. 



Professor Bunge, who accompanied the Russian Mission to 

 Pekin, states that he saw near a pagoda an immense " Ginkgo,' 

 with a trunk nearly forty feet in circumference, and of prodi- 

 gious height, but still in perfect vigour. 



It is quite hardy, and has the following varieties : — 



SaLISBURIA ABIANTI folia M ACROPHYLLAj ^or^ 



Syn. Salisburia adiantifolia laciniata, Carriere. 

 „ „ macrophylla, Reynier. 



This variety differs from the species, by its leaves being very 

 much larger, some of them measuring ten inches in circum- 

 ference, and divided in two, three, or five lobes, — the principal 

 lobes being again subdivided, and undulated, and irregularly 

 laciniated, or dentated on the edges ; a very fine variety, of 

 French origin. 



