Even with the pressing deadline, it was fun to be out in a brisk, chilly wind, enjoying a species that dates back to the dinosaur days. Not the dinosaur days of cellphones as large as Maxwell Smart's shoe... Not the days of living room cabinet stereos for playing vinyl Beatles 45s and LPs. Real Permian Age dinosaur days.
Ginkgo biloba, I learn from Answers.com, is the only surviving Ginkgoopsida. Besides being a fabulous word to say and spell, ginkgoopsida is "a class of largely extinct gymnosperms (Pinophyta)."
Tyson Woods, an arborist for Moore Tree Care in Dallas recommended ginkgo trees in a November 5, 2008 Dallas Morning News story about fall color:
The ancient majesty of Ginkgo biloba is magical when its fan-shaped leaves turn golden. Its leaves are shaped like the lacy segments of maidenhair fern.
The ginkgo is a slow grower, but its beauty and its storied past as one of the oldest trees on earth make it a top choice, says Mr. Woods. It's a good urban tree because it tolerates drought, heat and poor soils.
Texas Tree Planting, a Texas A&M extension website, recommends planting ginkgo biloba because of its pest and pollution resistance. Female trees produce stinky fruit, so male cultivars are preferred.
Those fruits, are more accurately seeds with a fleshy covering, and give the tree its name. Sometimes called the silver apricot tree, ginkgo comes from the Japanese ginkyo, from ancient Chinese ngien hang (Mandarin yin hsing), "silver apricot" - ngien, silver, and hang, apricot.
My good old dictionary says both ginkgo and gingko are acceptable spellings. Ginkyo is also used.
© 2008 Nancy L. Ruder
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