Plantae > Tracheophyta > Ginkgoopsida > Ginkgoales > Ginkgoaceae > Ginkgo > Ginkgo biloba

Ginkgo biloba (maidenhair tree)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Ginkgo biloba, known as ginkgo, also spelled gingko (both pronounced /ˈɡɪŋkoʊ/), or as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years. Native to China, the tree is widely cultivated and was introduced early to human history. It has various uses in traditional medicine and as a source of food. The genus name Ginkgo is regarded as a misspelling of the Japanese gin kyo, "silver apricot".
View Wikipedia Record: Ginkgo biloba

Endangered Species

Status: Endangered
View IUCN Record: Ginkgo biloba

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium-High
Shade Percentage [1]  81 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Medium-High
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Dioecious
Hazards [2]  The seed contains a mildly acrimonious principle that is unstable when heated. It is therefore best to cook the seed before eating it to ensure any possible toxicity is destroyed. This acrimonious principle is probably 4'-methoxypyridoxine, which can destroy vitamin B6; It is more toxic for children, but the raw nuts would have to be eaten often over a period of time for the negative effects to become apparent;
Janka Hardness [3]  750 lbf (340 kgf) Soft
Leaf Type [2]  Deciduous
Lifespan [4]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Wind
Scent [2]  The fruits have a strong unpleasant smell somewhat like a sewerage works on a hot day.
Specific Gravity [5]  0.455
Structure [2]  Tree
Usage [2]  An oil from the seed is used as a fuel in lighting; A soap substitute is produced by mixing the pulp of the seed (is the fruit meant here?) with oil or wine; Wood - light, soft, it has insect repelling qualities;
Height [2]  98 feet (30 m)
Width [2]  30 feet (9 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 4 Low Temperature: -30 F° (-34.4 C°) → -20 F° (-28.9 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 8 Low Temperature: 10 F° (-12.2 C°) → 20 F° (-6.7 C°)
Water Use [1]  Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Ginkgo biloba

Protected Areas

Emblem of

China

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Ganoderma australe (Southern Bracket)[6]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 4USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 5Chave J, Coomes D, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Swenson NG, Zanne AE (2009) Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecology Letters 12: 351-366. Zanne AE, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Coomes DA, Ilic J, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Miller RB, Swenson NG, Wiemann MC, Chave J (2009) Data from: Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Dryad Digital Repository.
♦ 6Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 7HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0