CHAPTER XL. 



GINKGOALES. 



A. Reobkt. 



In the account of the Coniferae contributed to Die Natilr- 

 lichen Pflanzenfamilien^ the genus Ginkgo, in accordance with the 

 pievaihng custom, was included in the Taxeae with Taxus, Cephalo- 

 taxus, and Torreya. Eichler had previously referred Ginkgo, or 

 Salisburia, to a separate family, the Sahsburyeae^. Hirase's 

 discovery of motile antherozoids in the pollen-tube of Ginkgo 

 biloba in 1896, 'the most remarkable event in plant morphology 

 during the last decade of the 19th century,' confirmed the sus- 

 picion that the association of this ' unicum de la creation actuelle ' 

 with Taxus and other Conifers was inconsistent with a natural 

 scheme of classification. At a later date Engler adopted the 

 family-name Ginkgoaceae, and in his survey of the Embryophyta 

 Siphonogama the isolation of Ginkgo is emphasised by the refer- 

 ence of the Ginkgoaceae to a special class, the Ginkgoales^. 



Ginkgo biloba L. {Salisburia adiantifolia Smith) has a preeminent 

 claim to be described in Darwin's words as a. 'living fossil.' It is 

 sometimes said to occur in China as a wild plant, but there appears 

 to be no sufficient reason to believe that it would have escaped 

 extinction had it not been carefully tended -as a sacred tree in 

 the gardens of temples*. Since its introduction into Europe in 

 1730, Ginkgo has become familiar in cultivation in the northern 

 hemisphere and thus through man's agency this monotypic genus 

 has been restored to regions where it survived as late as the 

 Tertiary epoch. In habit Ginkgo^ resembles many Conifers and 

 its long and short shoots recall those of Cedrus and Larix : the 

 short shoots may also be compared with the main trunk of a 



1 Eiohler (89) p. 108. ^ Seward and Gowan (00) B. p. 113. 



3 Engler (97) pp. 19, 341. " Elwes and Henry (06) Vol. i. p. .58. 



^ For' a full account of the genus, see Spreoher (07). 



S. IV 1 



