What is Ginkgo biloba?

Ginkgo biloba is a plant of Ginkgo in Ginkgoaceae.

Ginkgo biloba, a tree, 40 meters high, DBH 4 meters. The bark of young trees is shallowly longitudinally split, and the bark of big trees is grayish brown, deeply longitudinally split and rough; The crowns of young and mature trees are conical, while the crowns of old trees are roughly oval. Branches are nearly whorled and extend obliquely upward (the big branches of female plants are often more developed than those of male plants); One-year-old branches are light brownish yellow, two-year-old branches turn gray and have fine longitudinal cracks; Short branches are densely covered with leaves, dark gray, and long branches can also grow on short branches; Winter buds are yellowish brown, often oval, and the top is blunt and round.

The leaves are fan-shaped, the stalks are long, light green, hairless, with many branched parallel veinlets, and the top is 5-8 cm wide. On the short branch, it is often wavy, and on the long branch, it is often divided into two, with a wide wedge-shaped base and a handle length of 3- 10 cm (mostly 5-8cm). Leaves on young trees and budding branches often split deeply (leaf length13cm).

Cone dioecious, unisexual, clustered in the axils of scaly leaves at the top of short branches; Male cones are inflorescence-shaped, pendulous, with loose stamens and short pedicels, usually with 2 anthers, long oval, longitudinally dehiscent, and without anthers. The female cone has a long stalk, and the stalk end is often bifurcated, with 3 ~ 5 forks or no forks. There is a disc-shaped ovule at the top of each fork, and the ovule is attached to it. Usually only one forked ovule develops into a seed, which is pollinated by wind.

The seed stalk is long and pendulous, often oval, obovate, ovoid or nearly spherical, 2.5 to 3.5 cm long and 2 cm in diameter. Exocarp is fleshy, yellow or orange when ripe, and leaves have a bad smell; Mesocarp white, bony, with 2 to 3 longitudinal ridges; Endophytic membrane, reddish brown; Endosperm is fleshy and slightly bitter; There are 2 cotyledons, 3 rare ones, which have not been unearthed at the time of germination. The primary leaves are 2-5, strip-shaped, about 5 mm long and 2 mm wide, and the apex is slightly concave. After the fourth or fifth leaf, it is fan-shaped, and the apex has an irregular wavy notch. The petiole is 0.9-2.5 cm long. There is a main root.

Ginkgo biloba is a fast-growing precious timber tree species, with light yellow sapwood, yellowish brown heartwood, fine structure, light and soft weight, elasticity, easy processing, luster and specific gravity of 0.45-0.48. It is not easy to crack and bend, and it is an excellent wood for architecture, furniture, interior decoration, sculpture, drawing board and so on. Seeds are used for food and medicine. Leaves can be used as medicine, insecticide and fertilizer. The fleshy seed coat of the seed contains ginkgolic acid, ginkgol and ginkgol. Bark contains tannin. Ginkgo trees are beautiful in shape, with light green leaves in spring and summer and yellow leaves in autumn, which can be used as garden trees and street trees.