The Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba, L.). 
BY 
A. C SEWARD, F.R.S., 
AND 
MISS J. GOWAN, 
Newnham College\ Cambridge. 
With Plates VIII—X. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
dONG living plants there is perhaps no more striking 
A example of a genus which recalls the past than the 
Maidenhair tree of China and Japan, a type of vegetation 
almost unknown in a wild state, but carefully preserved in the 
far East as a sacred tree in the gardens of temples, and fre¬ 
quently cultivated in Europe and America for decorative 
purposes. Ginkgo is sometimes spoken of as unknown in a 
wild condition, but this statement has recently been challenged 
by Mrs. Bishop (Miss Bird ) l , who speaks of having ‘ met with 
several fine specimens in the magnificent forests which surround 
the sources of the Gold River and the smaller Min in Western 
China.’ The same writer, in her book entitled ‘ Unbeaten 
Tracts in Japan 2 ,’ describes a Ginkgo tree in the Lebunge 
valley, which ‘ at a height of three feet from the ground, 
divides into light lofty stems, none of them less than two 
1 Letter to the Standard, Aug. 17, 1899. 2 Bird (’ 80 ), vol. ii, p. 144. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XIV. No. LIII. March, 1900.] 
