GINKGOACE.E 545 



below the apex, a naked ovule, which is surrounded at the base 

 by a collar-like rim, the nature of which has given rise to much 

 discussion.^ Seed with a fleshy outer covering resembling a 

 small plum, orange-yellow in colour, enveloping a woody shell 

 which contains an edible kernel. In falling to the ground in 

 autumn the fleshy covering of the seed bursts and emits a most 

 offensive odour. Fertilization differs from that of other trees 

 except Cycads and Ferns, for the ovules are fecundated by 

 motile sperm-cells conveyed to them by the pollen tubes. This 

 discovery was made by Prof. Hirase at Tokyo in 1895-6.2 

 Fecundation takes place in early autumn, and the development 

 of the embryo is completed after the seeds have fallen to the 

 ground. 



The following forms are known in cultivation : — 



Var. fastigiata. 

 Columnar in form, the branches being almost erect. 



Var. macrophylla laciniata. 



Leaves larger and more deeply cut than in the typical form. 



Var. pendula. 

 Branches more or less weeping. 



Var. variegata. 

 Leaves variegated with pale yellow. 



It is doubtful if Ginl'go exists anywhere in a wild state, 

 although it has been recently found growing spontaneously over 

 some ten square miles near Changhua Hsien in the Chekiang 

 province in China, where the trees are stated to be so common 

 that they are cut for firewood.^ In China, Manchuria, and Corea 

 it is commonly planted, especially in the grounds of Buddhist 

 temples, where magnificent specimens, some of them reputed to 

 be over 1,000 years old (and probably preserved by Buddhist 

 priests) are met with. Its introduction to Japan is thought to 

 have been brought about by Buddhist priests, and magnificent 

 examples are found in the precincts of temples and palaces. One 

 seen by Wilson at Tokyo in 1914 was 82 ft. high and 28 ft. in 

 girth. A male tree which he saw near the Min River above 

 Kiating, W. China, in 1908, was 100 ft. high with a trunk 24 ft. 

 in girth, and branches sweeping the ground. 



The maidenhair tree was first made known to Western botanists 

 by Kaempfer, a surgeon in the employ of the Dutch East India 



1 Shaw, New Phyt. vii, 85-92 (1908), and Coulter and Chamberlain, Morpho- 

 logy oj Oymnosperms, 194 (1910). 



*Jour)i. Coll. Sci., Tokyo, viii, pt. 2 (1895) and xii, pt. 2 (1898). 

 ^Pl ^Yils. u, 1 (1914). 



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