MORE INTERESTING FACTS:

v  Buddhist monks used to cultivate the Ginkgo surrounding their temples in 1100 A.D. for its beneficial qualities and remarkable ability to remain alive, even during fire.  A temple surrounded by Ginkgos was once saved by this resistance to fire.

v  A Ginkgo was planted in 1955 by schoolchildren in Massachusetts to represent peace.  This “Peace Tree” is a symbol of hope for world peace.

v  In Detroit, Yoko Ono planted a Ginkgo tree in 2000, calling it the “Wish Tree for Detroit.”

                   The Ginkgo biloba, also known as the Maidenhair tree and the temple tree, is an incredibly unique, interesting, and long-standing species.  The tree was thriving 125 million years ago when dinosaurs still dominated the Earth, thus surviving the K-T Boundary (the dinosaur extinction) and the ice age.  However, its earliest rock fossils date back even further than this, to over 286 million years ago during the Permian period of the Paleozoic era.  It is the oldest tree on the planet, giving it its reputation as a “living fossil,” as Darwin first called it in his “Origin of Species.”  An amazing aspect of these trees is that its genetic makeup has remained practically unchanged for the last 125 million years.  In 1998, Ginkgos were enlisted into the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as endangered.  The Ginkgo tree is commonly known throughout Japan and China as a treasure, and has served their culture as a commonly used herbal medicine used to aid from asthma to Alzheimer’s disease for thousands of years.  Clearly, the Ginkgo tree gives us a precious link into our planet’s ancient history, and it is important that we preserve this global treasure.

                        The Ginkgo biloba can be found ornamentally or on farm plantations in various biomes across the world, although native to Zhejiang, China.  The species is found in nearly every botanical garden located in temperate or sub-tropical climates.  Ginkgo trees grow ornamentally or are cultivated in Temperate and Broadleaf Mixed Forests, Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests, as well as Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrubs.  These trees prefer moist, deep, moderately acidic, and sandy soils with a pH range from 5.2-7.5.  It needs full sunlight or partial shade, and can grow up to 80 feet tall.  Ginkgos also prefer a moderate amount of rainfall from 40-65 inches.  Although Ginkgos may prefer these environmental characteristics, they are extremely adaptable to stressful conditions, which is definitely the major reason why it is still alive today.  An amazing fact is that it was the first tree in the area of Hiroshima to bud after the atomic bomb of 1945, thus displaying its incredible adaptive properties.

                        The Ginkgos reproductive qualities are unique.  Remarkably, this species is actually more closely related to cycads than conifers and deciduous broad leaf trees.  It is the sole bridge between “higher” and “lower” plants (between ferns and conifers).  This is another unique position the Ginkgo holds, and is most likely because cycads and ferns were abundant along with the Ginkgo tree during the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods.  Therefore, the Ginkgo tree is similar to cycads in which they are the only living seed-producing plants that have sperm that are “free-swimming” or motile. 

                        The Ginkgo tree is a perennial, primitive gymnosperm, and is dioecious, meaning the male and female parts are on separate trees.  During spring, male pollen and female ovules are formed on separate trees which depend on wind pollination for reproduction.  Yellow pollen cones that look like catkins are found on male trees, abundant with seeds, while female trees have ovules located at the tip of stalks each containing three or more ovules.  The ovules on female trees are special because each ovule has two pollination droplets, which look like a water droplet.  This water droplet is essential to the pollination of female ovules through the process of wind pollination because it allows the “free-swimming” male sperm to adhere to the pollination droplet.  The droplet containing the sperm is then retracted and sent into the pollen chamber, but fertilization does not actually occur until the fall.  This is the season where we can find Ginkgo seeds under a fleshy and yellow seed coat located on the female trees, which when opened, smell of rancid butter.

                        The Ginkgo tree was enlisted into the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 1998 as an endangered species for a variety of reasons.  The main reason is that wild Ginkgos can only be found in one remote area in Xitianmu, China on Mt. Zhejiang.  However, it is planted all over the world as an ornamental plant, and is cultivated in farms for its popular medicinal properties which have been used in Chinese and Japanese cultures for thousands of years.  Because of this reason, the Ginkgo genus should have no problem surviving, but wild Ginkgos may, due to their scarcity.  It is currently unclear whether the few wild Ginkgos are truly wild, or if they are just ancestors of ancient Buddhist gardens.  

                        Habitat loss and degradation is a clear problem facing Ginkgos due to extraction and ongoing clear-cutting for its wood according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.  Because Ginkgo trees are dioecious, they are considered to have poor reproduction qualities as well.  The fact that they are dioecious is not necessarily a good reproductive property because male and females trees must be located close enough to each other for reproduction to occur by their main pollination strategy, wind pollination. 

                        Another problem contributing to the Ginkgos endangerment is strip-mining which is popular in the Appalachian Mountains in the Eastern United States where Ginkgos are most prevalent in America.  Strip mining is when mountaintops are essentially blown up, degrading and disrupting the entire ecosystem for centuries.  Climate change can be considered an anthropogenic endangering factor for Ginkgos and practically all other trees on Earth.  However, because the Ginkgos have such remarkable adaptation qualities; such as resistance to fungal, viral, and bacterial diseases, as well as resistance to pollution of all kinds, I do not believe they are at as much of a risk as most trees are.  The Ginkgos’ extremely adaptive qualities are the reason why Ginkgos are still present today despite the two mass extinctions that have occurred in its ancient history, thus it will survive with more ease than most trees throughout the climate changes we will see in our lifetime.

                        There are possible remedies to the threats facing the Ginkgo tree, although there are currently no conservation programs in effect.  One remedy would be to gather seeds from the wild female Ginkgos located only on Mt. Xitianmu in China and scatter them in areas where the Ginkgos can easily reproduce to reassure that the wild trees, which are at most risk for extinction, will survive.  During this process, it would be essential for male and female seeds to be planted near each other in order for wind pollination to occur. Ginkgo trees, according to recent research, have a unique symbiotic relationship with green algae (Coccomyxa). This relationship is unknown to any other tree on the planet, and previously was known only to exist in the animal kingdom.  Because of this relationship, we now know that planting Ginkgo seeds with green algae in the soil can contribute to the growth process significantly.  Another remedy would be to stop the deforestation causing the habitat loss and degradation in all biomes in which the Ginkgo tree lives.  Making strip-mining illegal in the United States would also ensure its survival.  Individually decreasing our carbon footprint is an obvious remedy for global climate change, which despite this trees’ strong adaptive traits, could still further endanger the wild Ginkgos in China.  In addition, because Ginkgos are dioecious, male and female trees should always be planted close enough to each other for reproduction to occur successfully through wind pollination. 

                        Ginkgo bilobas are a global treasure to all of us, providing an important link between our ancient past and present.  The Ginkgos’ remarkably adaptive traits to stressful environmental conditions give us essential knowledge to plant survival, which is extremely important in respect to global climate change today.  Clearly, this “living fossil” is not just a beautiful tree, it is also incredibly unique in nearly all aspects, and the conservation of its habitats should be taken seriously or we may lose an important link to our ancient past forever.