featured tree

p ion hot tens The Ginkgo - a o courtesy OSU Ex at Vantage, Washington. Buried in lake bed sediments and then covered by lava flows for millions of years, 15-million- true “living old logs of ginkgo beckii can now be seen in the basalt bluffs overlooking the Columbia River Gorge and Wanapum Lake. fossil” Ginkgos were thought extinct from fossil” the planet until, with great excitement, German scientist and physician (GINKGO BILOBA) Engelbert Kaempfer discovered them in Japan in 1691. It turns out they had survived in China – where they were Jeri Chase, ODF Public Affairs Specialist considered sacred – in the mountain monasteries, and temple and palace gardens, cultivated by Buddhist monks Dinosaurs roamed among them. Millennia ago, they who then spread them to Japan.

ranged across what is now Asia, Europe, and North Continued next page America. Today, they are one of the best trees to plant – for so

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many reasons. The ginkgo – the ant very picture of Darwin’s “living fossil.” l.nl/~kw

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Ginkgo fossils – 19 species of them – have been found from as far back as the Permian period, over 270 p://www

htt million years ago. The extinctions of the dinosaurs and larger reptiles – the ginkgo seed dispersers – may have played a role in this species’ downfall. They were all gone from North America seven million years ago; and from Europe about two and one-half million years ago. Today, you can see fossilized evidence of these amazing trees at the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park

photo by David Scarboro photo courtesy of The Ginkgo Pages: courtesyThe Ginkgo Pages: of

Summer 2007 – Forests for Oregon 17

FFO inside.pmd 17 6/29/07, 11:11 AM The Ginkg o – A True “Living Fossil” . . . Continued from page 17

Today’s ginkgo has survived essen- Ginkgos are tough – they have to tially unchanged since the Jurassic times. be to have survived for millennia. It may be the oldest living seed plant – a That is just one of the many reasons true wonder of our natural world. they make such a great tree for our Of the ginkgo, paleobotanist Sir cities and communities. They can Albert Seward said: “It appeals to the withstand air pollution, salt, snow, historic soul: We see it as an emblem of wind, hail, drought, heat, insects changelessness, a heritage from worlds and disease, mismanagement, and too remote for our human intelligence even radiation. Four ginkgos in to grasp, a tree which has in its keeping Hiroshima, Japan, withstood the the secrets of the immeasurable past.” atomic bombs at the end of World Losing its leaves in the fall, it is War II – thriving, even blooming – deciduous –– but not a true broadleaf. while everything about them was Nor is it a conifer. Scientifically, and in devastated in the blast. many other ways, it’s in a class all its Ginkgos are also believed to own, the only link between the “lower” provide protection against fire; the level of plants, the ferns, and the bark and leaves are thought to “higher” level, the conifers. secrete a fire-retardant sap. Many of The trunk has light brown to these trees survived the great fire brownish-grey bark that becomes deeply after the 1923 Tokyo earthquake – furrowed and highly ridged with age. and a temple that was surrounded Ginkgo leaves are fan-shaped, inspiring by ginkgos made it through the two more names for this beloved tree, massive blaze unscathed. one again from the Japanese: “I-cho”, They aren’t all that picky about meaning “tree with leaves like a duck’s where they grow. If you are doing foot.” The second name this unique leaf your own planting, sun is recom- shape inspires is the one that’s the most mended, and about any soil will do. commonly known and used in North The only thing they don’t like is America: the “maidenhair tree,” for its poor drainage, or for their very resemblance to the maidenhair fern deep roots to be overly wet. whose fronds have an almost identical They are slow-growing and long- shape. living. There are ginkgos believed to Their amazing leaves dance and be 2500-3000 years old – specimen flutter with the slightest breeze. In trees that are over 170 feet in height. spring, they unfurl as a delicate, soft, In most urban areas, though, deepening green during summer, to a ginkgos reach 40-100 feet tall and warm, emerald tone. But it is in the fall spread about 20-40 feet. when the ginkgo really comes into its Young ginkgos are slender and own – glistening in gold. Autumn leaf sparsely branched – columnar. It is color may range from chartreuse to only as they age that their crown bright yellow to deep gold, depending truly fills in, and that might not This ginkgo tree near on the tree. If these leaves happen to fall happen for 100 years or more. They in a pool of water, they put on another broaden into a classic pyramidal Oregon’s state capitol striking show as they often don’t lie flat shape. on the water’s surface, but bend and, at There are male and female building is a bigger, the slightest movement, mimic shim- ginkgo trees – and sometimes, both

Photo by Cynthia Orlando, ODF Orlando, Photo by Cynthia mering golden butterflies. genders can be found on the same much taller specimen And when that show is over, ginkgos tree. Females must be growing in lose their leaves almost all at once – the presence of a male tree to be polli- than you’re likely to inspiring a former Poet Laureate for the nated. United States to muse upon this unusual Lacking dinosaurs, seed dispersal for see in most neighbor- phenomenon. In the northwest, this the ginkgo biloba is now done by small often happens around Halloween. Very mammals and birds. hoods. Note the tidily, too. The leaves fall fast and form a Their flowers are insignificant, but golden carpet beneath the tree – easy for that fruit! It is foul-smelling – resem- unique, fan-shaped fall clean-up in a garden. bling rancid butter and Limburger leaves, right.

Summer 2007 – Forests for Oregon 18

FFO inside.pmd 18 6/29/07, 11:11 AM cheese. For or broiled, ginkgo seeds are still often A ginkgo tree near a temple that reason, eaten in Japan when drinking sake. nowadays most From the 1950s until today, western survived the dropping of the people prefer medicine has been studying uses for the to plant the ginkgo. It is frequently prescribed in 1945 atomic bomb on male tree. Europe, and used in North America and Since it can be other countries as a herbal supplement Hiroshima. The temple was difficult to tell for muscle pain, fatigue, for the treat- the male and ment of Alzheimer’s and for the destroyed. However, the female trees cognitive symptoms of multiple apart until sclerosis. staircase of the new temple maturity – at A ginkgo tree near a temple survived 20 years or so the dropping of the 1945 atomic bomb was divided into left-and right of age – most on Hiroshima. The temple was nursery destoryed, but the staircase of the new hand sides, protecting the varieties sold temple was divided into left-and right are males hand sides, protecting the tree inside a Ginkgo inside a U-shape. grafted onto U-shape. Engraved on the tree are the root stock. words “No more Hiroshima.” The ginkgo is popular in many Some ginkgo history: different types of artwork from many pass the tea or sake Asian cultures - first seen on Chinese silk paintings by 400 AD, used on As befits a species that has been Japanese family crests since the Middle around for more than 270 million Ages, and still common in many logos years, the ginkgo has a rich and and emblems in the Far East. It also was legendary history. a popular motif during the Art Nouveau movement at the end of the Ginkgo seeds were used for th medicinal purposes in both China 19 century in Europe, and has inspired and Japan. The seeds are also eaten at poetry, from ancient Chinese and weddings and feasts – like the Japanese sages to the German poet, Chinese New Year – and, in Japan, botanist, and philosopher Goethe. during tea ceremonies. Today, grilled There are many places in Oregon to see and enjoy these gems. Some grow in the Japanese Gardens of Lithia Park and elsewhere in Ashland, and many in Salem, Corvallis and Gresham. In Portland, they can be found at OMSI, near the Oregon Zoo, in the Japanese Gardens at Washington Park, and the newly-built Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown. Plant a “living fossil” today, and generations who will follow will thank you.

oto by Cynthia Orlando, ODF Orlando, by Cynthia oto

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Summer 2007 – Forests for Oregon 19

FFO inside.pmd 19 6/29/07, 11:12 AM