Bio Diversity Park

Common Name : Maidenhair tree

Hindi Name : जिन्को बाइलोबा | Scientific Name : Ginkgo biloba
Family : Ginkgoaceae
Uses : It is has environmental uses, as a medicine and for food. Ginkgo has been planted since ancient times in Chinese and Japanese temple gardens and is now valued in many parts of the world as a fungus- and insect-resistant ornamental tree. It tolerates cold weather and, unlike most gymnosperms, can survive the adverse atmospheric conditions of urban areas. Ginkgo leaf extracts are widely used in herbal medicinal products, food and dietary supplements, and botanical and complimentary medicines. A variety of bioactive compounds such as terpenoids, flavonoid, biflavonoids and organic acids, among others, broaden its use in different biological systems. As such, the standard extract of G. biloba leaves is widely used for treating neurological and cardiovascular disorders and thus is positioned as one of the most traded medicinal plants.
Native: China
General Description:

A ginkgo tree is pyramidal in shape, with a columnar, sparingly branched trunk up to 30 metres (100 feet) tall and 2.5 metres (8 feet) in diameter and grows primarily in the temperate biome. The fissured bark is grayish, deeply furrowed on older trees, and has a corky texture. The light-coloured wood, soft and weak, has little economic value. Fan-shaped ginkgo leaves resemble the leaflets of the maidenhair fern and is borne on short, spur like but greatly thickened shoots. The leathery leaves are up to 8 cm (3 inches) long and are sometimes twice as broad. Two parallel veins enter each blade from the point of attachment of the long leafstalk and fork repeatedly toward the leaf edges. Most leaves are divided into two lobes by a central notch. Dull gray-green to yellow-green in summer, they turn golden yellow in autumn, remaining on the tree until late in the season, and then fall rapidly.