History

• Ginkgo species circled the globe in the Triassic period, living in temperate zones throughout what would one day be China, Russia, Europe and North America. As colder temperatures encroached on the ginkgo's environment, the livable zones shrank. Eventually only one species remained in isolated pockets of China. Chinese writings identify this tree in the 11th century, but it remained unknown to the Western world until Engelbert Kaempfer, a botanist with the Dutch East-India Company, described the tree in 1691.
  
  

Appearance

• Ginkgo biloba "Autumn Gold" produces beautiful fall color.Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  Ginkgo trees have the nickname of maidenhair tree because of its easily recognizable leaf shape, similar to the leaflet of a maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum). The leaf is fan-shaped, with an outer convex curve often slightly notched into two lobes. The 2- to 3-inch leaves have no central vein. The tree itself is ungainly as a sapling, but grows into a stately, pyramidal tree 40 to 80 feet tall and 30 to 40 feet wide. In fall, the leaves turn a sunny, bright yellow.
  
  

Culture

• According to Bellarmine University, one ginkgo specimen in China is over 3,500 years old.Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  Ginkgo trees are the only survivor in their botanical family and are equally tenacious in today's landscape. This tree prefers USDA zones 3 to 8 and slightly acid, moist soil, but it grows well in nearly any sunny location. Compacted soil, urban conditions, heat and drought don't set this tree back for long. In fact, when United States forces dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, a handful of ginkgo trees just 1/2 mile from the site survived and are still living as of 2011.
  
  

Drawbacks

• When female ginkgo trees are roughly 20 years old, they begin to produce fruit. While some cultures eat the flesh, other groups find the fallen, ripened fruit to be an affliction -- the fruit contains butyric acid, a compound that smells like rancid butter. The vast majority of ginkgo trees in commercial nurseries are male clones, but beware of seed-grown trees. Additionally, ginkgo trees, like many large species, outgrow suburban yards. Pests and disease are not a concern with ginkgo.