VIII] THE MAIDEN HAIR TREE 123 



but as it is customary to retain names adopted or 

 proposed by Linnaeus, the founder of the binominal 

 system of nomenclature, the correct botanical desig- 

 nation of the maiden hair tree is Ghikgo hiloha. 

 Mere personal preference such as that of Sir J. E. 

 Smith for Salisburia is not an adequate reason for 

 rejecting an older name. 



In its pyramidal habit Ginkgo agrees generally 

 with the larch and other Conifers. Like the larch 

 and cedar it possesses two kinds of foliage shoots, 

 the more rapidly growing long shoots with scattered 

 leaves and the much shorter dwarf-shoots which 

 elongate slightly each year and bear several leaves 

 crowded round their apex. The leaves (Fig. 19), 

 which are shed each year, are similar in the cuneate 

 form of the lamina and in the fan-like distribution 

 of the forked veins, to the large leaflets of some 

 species of maiden hair ferns : the thin lamina carried 

 by a slender leaf-stalk is usually about 3 inches 

 across, though in exceptional cases it may reach a 

 breadth of 8 inches. The lamina is usually divided 

 by a deep V-shaped sinus into two equal halves ; 

 it may be entire with an irregularly crenulate margin, 

 or, on seedlings and vigorous long shoots, the lamina 

 may be cut into several wedge-shaped segments. 



The male and female flowers are borne on separate 

 trees ; the male consists of a central axis giving off 

 slender branches, each of which ends in a small 



