CHAPTER V 

 THE STORY OF THE GINKGO 



THE oldest existing type of tree, a veritable 

 "living fossil," is the Ginkgo or Maidenhair- 

 tree. It is the sole survivor of a family, 

 rich in species, which was distributed over the temper- 

 ate regions of both the Northern and Southern hemi- 

 spheres during the periods when the Terrible Lizards 

 (Deinosaurus and Iguanodon), the Winged Lizards 

 (Pterodactylus — possible ancestors of our birds), 

 and the Paddle-bearing Lizards (Plesiosaurus) 

 roamed the earth, and whose fossil remains, so plenti- 

 ful in the rocks of Wyoming, North and South 

 Dakota, Kansas, Texas, and elsewhere, alone remain 

 to tell of their existence. The fossil evidence is in- 

 sufficient to prove the existence of members of the 

 Ginkgo family in the age of the coal measures (Car- 

 boniferous period), but there is a strong suspicion of 

 their presence in the next (Permian), as fossils from 

 Virginia show. From the Triassic rocks (the oldest 

 group of Secondary period) several species of Ginkgo 

 have been described from Australia, and it seems 



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