Ginkgo biloba (Ginkgo biloba l )
Appearance: A tree that sheds its leaves for winter, high at approx 30 m, usually slim, conical, narrow crown, with one or more trunks.
Branches and boughs depart at an acute angle and are usually steeply upright; branching very loose And especially in younger specimens, rather few. However, even younger branches are already quite stiff and thickened.
Brown-gray to dark-brown bark, with deep cracks or a network of furrows. The trunk is sometimes with numerous protrusions, evenly tapering towards the top.
Leaves on long shoots (annual increase) very remote, besides, a few in bunches on shoots, which in winter give the bare branches a bizarre appearance. Fan-shaped leaves approx 10 cm, widlasto unerwione, double flap to double, those on the long shoots usually more divided than those on the shoots, characteristically soft, sort of velvety, long-tailed, clear- or medium green. Dioecious species.
Male flowers in cylindrical yellow cats, only a few gathered on shoots. Female flowers collected in pairs of two or three. Owocolists are free, usually small, light green, ovate. Wind-pollinated tree.
After fertilization, a drupe-like seed develops: with a fleshy seed coat, which, when it matures, it is gray-green or yellow, and when crushed, it gives off a very unpleasant smell. Since it is not possible to determine the sex of young plants, both sexes are planted. Ginkgo not often bear fruit.
Habitat: Widely planted as a decorative tree in parks and streets.
Flowering period: March to April. General thoughts: Ginkgo is the only surviving representative of a certain group of gymnosperms, which during the Mesozoic era was represented by numerous species, widespread all over the Earth. However, it draws attention, that in these earlier forms, as evidenced by the fossils, the flat surfaces of the pin-shaped leaves were often much more heavily dissected, than in the form present today. As can be seen from this, in the course of evolution, the pin-shaped leaves have been repeatedly transformed not so much in terms of the construction plan, what an external figure.
Ginkgo is the only representative of gymnosperms, in which the pinnate leaves transformed into a gill. V-shaped leaf innervation should be considered a particularly primary feature, which is fan-shaped from the base of the tail. This is particularly well recognized, watching the leaf against the light. This type of innervation resembles numerous fern leaves in terms of structure and shape, and makes you think, that the older naked-seed should probably be derived from this group. Because of other evolutionarily very primal characteristics, Ginkgo occupies a very isolated position in the system of flowering plants. It even creates a monotypic one, that is, consisting of only one species, plant class, and your own family and government. As a residue of a phylogenetic group, originally much more extensive – as well as a tree, which still looks like this today, like its Cretaceous relatives over a hundred million years ago – it is considered a living fossil in botany. Ginkgo is a species native to China. In the wild, it hardly occurs even there today. All specimens planted in Europe from about 1730 years come from trees from East Asian temple gardens.