Cooperative Living October 2018 - 30

Gingko, for the Most Spectacular Fall
GardenMuse | Story and photos by Paula Steers Brown, Contributing Columnist
G
ingko biloba (meaning " twolobed, "
in reference to its
distinctive, fan-shaped leaf) is
an incredible deciduous tree.
A native of China, the gingko was
introduced into the western horticultural
world in the mid-18th century where
people have marveled at its features ever
since. It is a " monotypic clade, " which
means there is only one species in its
genus and only one genus in the family.
In other words, it has no known relatives,
a lone survivor of the Ice Age that wiped
out the dinosaurs.
Its earliest leaf fossil dates from 270
million years ago, so the gingko is what
Charles Darwin termed " a living fossil. "
Such endurance has garnered the gingko
a reverence for its ability to survive, and it is
often found planted around temple sites in
Japan where it is considered sacred.
Famously, six gingko trees even survived
the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. To call it
resilient is an understatement.
It has become an urban workhorse
because of its ability to survive pollution,
and it has long been promoted for its
medicinal properties. Its cast-iron
constitution and " sunny " disposition
make it much respected in the South,
especially in autumn, when its glorious
yellow foliage and accelerated " leaf fall "
create grand drama.
The gingko behaves like a conifer, but
it has leaves, not needles. Females produce
a rounded botanical part that is not
actually a fruit, but a " naked seed, " whose
fleshy apricot-looking covering makes
the familiar gingko-stinko when it
decays. For this reason, city planners who
have prized the tree for its hardiness
always intend to plant male clones.
A gingko, however, does not flower for
the first 20 years, so its sex in early age is
hard to determine. Another bizarre trait
of the species can compound the issue of
sex selection: gingkos have been known
to convert spontaneously from one sex to
the other, so despite the best labeling and
sorting diligence on the part of humans,
sometimes Nature just has her own way.
The interior kernels of the seeds are
highly desirable; nutritious with an
excellent flavor, these nuts are considered
delicacies in Asian cuisine. The nuts can
be sautéed in oil where they crack open
like pistachios. In Asia, they are also boiled
in sugar and eaten after dinner as a sweet
treat said to counteract the drinking of too
much alcohol. There is even a breakfast
cereal that has gingko-leaf extract. Teas
and herbal supplements have long been
made from the leaves.
The gingko's gorgeous green leaves
resemble a maidenhair fern, so it is often
called the maidenhair tree. The leaves are
notable for their unique fan shape, ridged
texture and distinctive edges. The leaf form
is so exceptional that it is often translated
into jewelry and art objects.
Among the gingko leaf's other
A golden carpet of gingko leaves collects beneath its branches. This is the gingko's " leaf fall, "
where its leaves drop in a matter of hours.
28 | Cooperative Living | October 2018
interesting properties is its insectrepellent
quality. The leaves were often
used in olden times as bookmarks
because they repelled silverfish and book
lice. One of the most remarkable aspects
of this deciduous plant behavior is the
way the gingko rushes its process of leaf
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Cooperative Living October 2018

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