GINKGOACEAE 
Ginkgo.* Maidenhair Tree 
Ginkgo biloba L. [Salisburia adiantifolia Smith] 
HABIT.—A slender tree in youth, with slender, upright 
branches, becoming broader with age and forming a symmetrical, 
pyramidal crown; probably 60-80 feet high, with a trunk diameter 
of 2-4 feet. 
LEAVES.—Clustered at the ends of short, spur-like shoots, 
or scattered alternately on the long terminal branches; simple; 
2-5 inches broad; more or less fan-shaped; usually bilobed 
and irregularly crenate at the upper extremity; thin and leath- 
ery; glabrous, pale yellow-green on both sides; petioles long, 
slender; turning a clear, golden yellow before falling in autumn. 
FLOWERS.—May, with the leaves; dioecious; the staminate 
in short-stalked, pendulous catkins, 1-114 inches long, yellow; the 
pistillate more or less erect on the shoot, long-stalked, consisting 
of 2 naked ovules, one of which usually aborts. 
FRUIT.—Autumn; a more or less globose drupe, orange- 
yellow to green, about 1 inch in diameter, consisting of an acrid, 
foul-smelling pulp inclosing a smooth, whitish, somewhat flat- 
tened, almond-flavored nut. 
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud about 1% inch long, conical, 
smooth, light chestnut-brown; lateral buds divergent, usually only 
on rapid-growing shoots. 
BARK.—Twigs gray-brown and. smooth; thick, ash-gray and 
somewhat roughened on the trunk, becoming more or less fissured 
in old age. 
WOOD.—Light, soft, weak, close-grained, yellow-white to 
light red-brown, with thin, lighter colored sapwood. 
NOTES.—Origin in dispute, but probably a native of north- 
ern China. Extensively cultivated in China and Japan, where its 
fruit is esteemed. Easily propagated from seed. ‘Thrives in 
deep, well-drained, rich soil. Practically free from insect and 
fungous attacks, and little harmed by the smoke of cities. Prob- 
ably hardy throughout the southern half of the Lower Peninsula. 
*Although formerly classed under PINACEAE, recent 
investigations show it to be the type of a distinct family. 
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