LORQUINIA 
Published by the Lorquin Natural History Club 
(Organized— August 1913) 
Volume II 
dumber 1 
Los Angeles, Cal., August 1917 |^**Per Year 
SURVIVORS 
THE GINKGO, OR MAIDENHAIR TREE 
E. E. Hadley 
There are some forms and types of animal and plant life that are 
of special interest to the naturalist, and particularly to the paleontolo- 
gist. They are those which, their race having passed its culmination 
in some remote period, when they flourished in great numbers and 
enjoyed a wide range of distribution, have survived the climatic, or 
other conditions, which caused the extinction of their earlier contem- 
poraries, but now find themselves verging toward extinction, and con- 
fined to a very limited geographical range, while the fossil remains of 
their ancestors and near allies of former ages are found in widely 
separated regions. 
Though these old-fashioned forms seem strangely out of place 
among those of later origin, yet through their survival they have 
brought to us some very interesting and important chapters in geologic 
history. They serve to link the past with the present, and many facts 
are preserved which otherwise would have been lost. 
There are many examples of this kind among both plants and 
animals. One of the most peculiar and interesting is that of the Gink- 
go or Maidenliaid Tree. To this genus is attached much of interest as 
being the only surviving member of a group that was once very abund- 
ant, and represented by a number of species with a wide geographical 
distribution. The only existing species, Ginkgo hiloha Linn. (Salis- 
huria adiantifolia Smith), commonly called Maidenhair tree, is a native 
of China. It is not known in the wild state and its preservation from 
extinction is probably due to its having been regarded as sacred by the 
Chinese and preserved by them in the groves around the temples. 
It was introduced into the United States early in the nineteenth 
century, is grown to some extent in Southern California, but is much 
more common in some of the eastern cities. In Washington, D. C, it 
has been planted extensively as a street tree. 
The seeds are borne in plum-like drupes which are yellowish 
brown in color and have a very ofifensive odor. For this reason, the 
tree being mostly dioecious, male specimens are usually planted when 
intended for ornamental or street trees. The kernels of tke nut-like 
