Ginkgo Biloba Tree

The ginkgo biloba tree is as miraculous as its ginkgo biloba herb. Ginkgo biloba trees are known to have existed between 150 – 250 years ago according to recent geological studies. Ginkgo biloba tree is the oldest tree in the world today.

Engelbert Kaempfer was a German botanist who became known as the first European to discover and categorize the Ginkgo biloba tree. He discovered the Ginkgo biloba tree in China in 1690. But he lived in Japan from 1690 till 1692 and described the Ginkgo tree in his book Amoenitatum exoticarum (1712).

The ginkgo name is coined by Kaempfer. Ginkgo is derived from two Japanese words YIN meaning silver and HING meaning apricot which is used to refer to the similarity of an apricot to the appearance of the ginkgo trees’ fruits. Biloba roughly translates to "two-lobed" which refers to the fan-shaped leaf blades which appear to be split-in-the-middle. Ginkgo biloba trees can thrive in cities because they can tolerate dust and pollution. Its huge, sturdy trunk makes it not easily vulnerable to fungi, insects or damages wrought by storms.

This unique ginkgo biloba tree aside form the fact that it’s the oldest, is also one of the most unique because it is dioecious. A rare tree where male and female flowers grow on different trees. Charles Darwin refered to the ginkgo biloba tree as a living fossi in 1859. Ginkgo treses disapperaerd from America and Europe about 7 million and 3 milion years ago, repectively. The last survivor of ginkgo biloba trees was found in southeast China. The Buddhist monks were responsible for its continued existence up to this day. They planted ginkgo biloba trees near the pagodas in China’s imperial gardens because they believed it to be guard to entreat fire.

Ginkgo biloba trees or its scientific name ginkgoaceae beong to the Ginkgophytes class. This ginkgo biloba trees’ class is believed to provide the link between the ferns and the angiospherms (flowering plants).

In Europe, where the ginkgo biloba tree has gained immense popularity especially in France and Germany nowadays, the oldest Europena ginkgo biloba tree would be found in the Utrecht Botanical Garden in 1730. Once thought to be extinct this fascinating tree is now widely dispersed all over the world. Hence, the reason for the ginkgo biloba tree’s popularity.

Having lived for over 150 milion years this huge, sturdy ginkgo biloba tree is not only known for its medicinal value, it is also served a bold, picturesque accent in the landscape among architects. Ginkgo biloba tree can grow to be a sturdy, huge, urban-torlerant shade that happens to be the oldest living tree on Earth. Truly, ginkgo biloba tree is a rare mix of magnificence and endurance!