Ginkgo

One of my pleasures in 2014 was reading Ginkgo, by Peter Crane (published by Yale University Press, 2013). The book was a gift from my folks who also enjoy trees, and are intrepid companions on field trips in Alaska, Southern California, and life). Peter Crane is a botanist from Yale, who spent some time on assignment at London’s Kew Gardens, home to several Ginkgo biloba trees that were planted in the 1700s. Crane has a deep understanding of natural history and botany, and tells the fascinating story of the tree against this back drop.

The ginkgo is thought to be unchanged for over two hundred million years, making it a living link to the dinosaurs. It survived the ice age, and near extinction in the wild, and has been cultivated by humans all over the planet (except for a few inhospitable climates), enabling it to survive. The book looks at this fascinating history in several categories – Prologue, The Living Tree, Origin and Prehistory, Decline and Survival, History, Use, and Future. But this is not just a history book—it includes poetry, art, fossils, exploration, culture, informative notes, and an extensive bibliography. It is interesting reading.

I learned more about the tree from this book. I love the unique fan-shape of the leaves, and the spiky silhouette of the tree, and have enjoyed seeing specimens on field trips in the San Francisco Bay Area (Overfelt Gardens, Washington Park, and Mountain View Cemetery), and in Boston Public Garden. I was pleased that Linnaeus apostles Carl Peter Thunberg (see pages 197, 201, 207, 232, and 329), and Daniel Carl Solander (see page 207) are mentioned in the book. I also loved seeing photos of ginkgo fossils from all over the planet—Afghanistan, Australia, England, Scotland. Some more travelling and a dip into paleo botany may be in order. Another thing I loved is that my copy of the book included an envelope containing ginkgo leaf specimens, which my dad had collected from street trees in Albany, California!