Gingko, also being known as maidenhair tree, is a kind of deciduous tree as well as ornamental plant, which is 30-40 meters’ high. Ginkgo (silver apricot) and maidenhair (white fruit) are both named after the color of its fruits. The shapes of ginkgo leaves are very special, like small fans. In the late autumn, these green fans will turn to marvelous golden ones. The light and soft drunk as well as the beautiful grain makes ginkgo a high-level craft carving material.
The fruits of ginkgo are lovely sparking green. They are not only rich in nutrition, but also tasting delicious, glutinous, soft and smooth. But the fruit is not easy to get for its slow growth. If you plant a ginkgo tree in your childhood, it would bear fruit when you are a grand father, so people also name it “Gong-Sun (grandpa-gradnson) Tree”.
Ginkgo is one of the most primitive tree species in the world as well as widely grown in Asia, Europe and American Continent 200 millions ago. After the great changes of the natural conditions, most of the species were destroyed under the glacier and had been fossilized. The only existing ones were conserved in China and continued to proliferate, which became the “living fossil” for plant morphology research of the ancient seeds.
Ginkgo has a long life span. The older the trunk is, the more vigorous and vibrant the tree will be. An old ginkgo which is planted in Dinglin Temple, Juxian County, Shandong Province has been lived for over 3,500 years.
The ginkgo leaves will help to get rid of the silverfish in books; a slender leafstalk is attached to the bottom of the ginkgo leaf, which makes it natural bookmark; the white nut can be used in cooking, which tastes glutinous and delicious.