Ginkgo 59 



discovered ; and I would suggest the provinces of Hunan, Chekiang, and Anhwei 

 in China as likely to contain it in their as yet unexplored mountain forests. 



The earliest mention of the tree in Chinese literature occurs in the Chung Shu 

 Shu, a work on agriculture, which dates from the 8th century, a.d. The author of 

 the great Chinese herbal [Pen-Tsao-Kang-Mu, 1578 a.d.) does not cite any previous 

 writers, but mentions that it occurs in Kiangnan (the territory south of the Yangtse), 

 and is called Ya-chio-tze, " duck's foot," on account of the shape of the leaves. At 

 the beginning of the Sung dynasty (1000 a.d.), the fruit was taken as tribute, and 

 was then called Yin-hsing,'' ^A\&r apricot," from its resemblance to a small apricot 

 with a white kernel. In the Chih-Wti-Ming, xxxi. 27, there is a good figure of the 

 foliage and fruit ; and the statement is made that in order to obtain fruit the tree 

 should be planted on the sides of ponds. 



At present it occurs planted in the vicinity of temples in China, Japan, and 

 Corea. It has always been the custom of the Chinese to preserve portions of the 

 natural forest around their temples ; and in this way many indigenous species have 

 been preserved that otherwise would have perished with the spread of agriculture 

 and the destruction of the forests for firewood and timber, in all districts traversed 

 by waterways. Most of the curious conifers in China and Japan have a very 

 limited distribution, and Ginkgo is probably no exception ; though it is possible 

 that it may still exist in the region indicated above. 



I have never seen any remarkable specimens in China ; but Bunge ' says that 

 he saw one at Peking, of prodigious height and 40 feet in circumference. 



In Japan Elwes says that it is planted occasionally in temple courts, gardens, 

 and parks. He did not see any very large specimen of the tree, the best being one 

 in the court of the Nishi Hongagi temple at Kioto, which was of no great height, 

 but had a bole about 15 feet in girth at 3 feet, where it divided into many wide- 

 spreading branches which covered an area of 90 paces in circumference. This tree 

 had green leaves and buds on the old wood of the trunk close to the ground, which 

 he did not notice in other places. 



Rein ^ says that the largest he knew of is at the temple of Kozenji near Tokyo, 

 and this in 1884 was 7.55 metres in girth, and according to Lehman about 32 metres 

 high. There is also one in the Shiba park, which in 1874 was 6.30 metres in girth. 

 The tree is sometimes grown in a dwarf state in pots, but does not seem to be a 

 favourite in Japan. The wood is somewhat like that of maple in grain, of a yellowish 

 colour, fine grained, but not especially valued, though it is used for making chess 

 boards and chessmen, chopping blocks, and as a groundwork for lacquer ware. 

 The nuts are sometimes eaten boiled or roasted, but are not much thought of. 



Ginkgo was first made known to Europeans by Kaempfer,' who discovered it in 

 Japan in 1690, and published in 171 2 a description with a good figure of the foliage 

 and fruit. Pallas * visited the market town of Mai-mai-cheng, opposite Kiachta, in 

 1772, and saw there Ginkgo fruit for sale which had been brought from Peking, 



' Bunge, in Bull. Soc. d'Agric. du Depart, de rUerauU, 1833. 



' Rein, Industries of Japan. * Kaempfer, Amamtates Exotica, 811. 



< Pallas, Jieisen durch versch. Prwinien des Russischen Reiches, 1768-1773, vol. iii. 



