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The
Story of Ginkgo biloba
"Ginkgo has for
centuries appealed to the imagination of the Oriental mind: the
tree with leaves like Golden Duck's feet became an object of
veneration; a legacy, it might be, from a golden age and as such
possessing miraculous power."
- Albert Seward [1938] Scientific Progress 32:420-440
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"The primitive cycads and
ginkgo provide beautiful examples of extant intermediates
in the evolution of sexual reproduction of the angiosperms
and more advanced gymnosperms, having evolved the pollen
grain but still utilizing a motile sperm."
- Jeremy Pickett-Heaps |
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"We, despite our matter of fact
Western outlook, pay homage to the sacred tree of the East
because its story, written in the sands of time, gives us a
vision of enduring life. The maidenhair tree appeals to the
historic souls: we see it as an emblem of changelessness, a
heritage from worlds of an age too remote for our human
intelligence to grasp, a tree which has in its keeping The
Secrets of the Immeasurable Past."
- Albert Seward [1938]
Scientific Progress 32:420-440
"When ginkgo was first known to
European taxonomists, it was regarded as one of the conifers,
and included in the Taxaceae.
"However, in 1895, Hirase, a
botanist at Tokyo University, published his discovery that the
ovules are fertilized by motile sperm cells conveyed by tubes
similar to pollen tubes. This differs radically from all other
conifers and flowering plants, which have non-motile male
nuclei. Motile sperms are found only in the lower plants, ferns
and cycads.
"This discovery established the
unique nature of ginkgo, which was raised to ordinal rank by
Engler. Ginkgo is thus the only living species in the order."
- Robert W.
Ridge [1987]
"Gink-links"
The Ginkgo pages
- the best compendium of Ginkgo data by Cor Kwant.
Brief notes
on Ginkgo biloba by Robert W. Ridge is short
and concise.
Gymnosperm
Database General information about Ginkgos and other
gymnosperms edited by Christopher J. Earle
Ohio State University
site featuring usage and other
selections on Ginkgo.
Introduction to the Ginkgoales
from University of California, Berkeley.
Dominique Mouchel's
Ginkgo site
includes photos, links, natural history and the botany of
Ginkgo [in French].
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