CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



GINKGOACEAE 



GINKGO L. 



GINKGO BILOBA Linnaeus, Mant. Alt. 313 (1771). Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 358 

 (1784). Miquel in Siebold & Zuccarini, Fl. Jap. II. 73, t. 136 (1870. Fran- 

 chet & Savatier, Enum. PL Jap. I. 474 (1875). Masters in Jour. Linn. Soc. 

 XVIII. 500 (1881); XXVI. 546 (1902). Sargent, Forest Fl. Jap. 75 (1894). 

 Fujii in Tokyo Bot. Mag. IX. 444, t. 8 (1895). Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. For. 

 Jap. I. 10, t. 8, fig. 1-14 (1900). Matsumura, Ind. PI. Jap. II. pt. 1, 3 (1905). 

 Elwes & Henry, Trees Gr. Brit. & Irel. I. 56, t. 21-23 (1906). Silva Tarouca, 

 Uns. Freiland-Nadelh. 79, fig. 73 (1913). Render & Wilson in Sargent, PL 

 Wilson. II. 1 (1914). 



Salisburia adiantifolia Smith in Trans. Linn. Soc. III. 330 (1797). 



Pterophyllus Salisburiensis Nelson, Pinac. 163 (1866). 



Ginkgo macrophylla Jackson in Index Kew. I. 1028 (as a synonym) (1898). 



The Ginkgo which is the only representative of its family is a commonly 

 planted tree, especially in the grounds of Buddhist temples, but is nowhere 

 spontaneous in Japan and, indeed, has not yet been discovered in a wild state 

 in any country. 1 Here and there in Japan are magnificent specimens of this in- 

 teresting tree from 26 to 30 m. tall and from 5 to 8 metres in girth of trunk 

 with broad wide-spreading crowns. In the city of Tokyo there are many fine 

 Ginkgo trees; and one of the largest grows in the courtyard of Koyenji Temple 

 and measures fully 26 m. tall with a trunk 8.5 m. in girth at 1.5 m. from the 

 ground. In front of the Bodoiin Temple at Nara there is growing a Ginkgo 

 tree and within it a large Keaki tree (Zelkova serrata Makino). The trunk of the 

 Ginkgo encloses the Keaki on three sides and the whole measures nearly 5 m. 

 in girth. Presumably a bird or the wind deposited a seed of the Keaki in a crack 

 or hollow in the Ginkgo, where it germinated and has grown into a large tree. 

 On many old Ginkgo trees " chi-chi," or nipples, are freely developed. These 

 stout aerial root-like protuberances are often from 1.5 to 2 m. long. When they 

 reach the ground they develop roots from the apex and leafy branches above. 

 This phenomenon is common in Japan. 



The Ginkgo is too well known to need description. It is a survival of prehis- 

 toric forests and one of the handsomest of all trees. In the autumn the leaves 

 change to clear yellow and the tree becomes as conspicuous as it is beautiful. The 

 yellow plum-like fruit has a very rancid smell, but the nut-like kernel when roasted 

 is eaten; it is, however, much less esteemed in Japan than in China. The wood 

 is light yellow in color, soft and brittle and has no economic value. 



1 According to Frank N. Meyer, botanical explorer for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 "the Ginkgo grows spontaneously in rich valleys over some ten square miles near Changhua Hsien, 

 about 70 miles west of Hangchou in the Chekiang province, China." There "the trees are so common 

 that they are cut for firewood." It is, however, by no means certain that this is the original home 

 of the Ginkgo as these trees may all have descended from a planted tree. Meyer's discovery, how- 

 ever, is interesting, for there is no other evidence of the Ginkgo growing spontaneously or that it is 

 cut for any purpose. 



