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58 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
1895, P- 444- We are indebted to Mrs. Archibald Little for a photograph taken by
her in Western China, of a tree 19^ feet round the base, and larger above, which
very well shows these excrescences (Plate 23).
IDENTIFICATION
In summer the leaves are unmistakable. In winter the long and short shoots
should be examined. The long shoot of one year's growth is round, smooth,
brownish, and shining, the terminal buds being larger than the scattered lateral
buds, which come off at a wide angle. The buds are conical, and composed of
several imbricated brown dotted scales. The leaf-scars show 2 small cicatrices, and
are fringed above with white pubescence. The short shoots are spurs of varying
length, up to an inch or more, stout, ringed, and bearing at their apex a bud
surrounded by several double-dotted leaf-scars. In Pseudolarix and the larches,
which have somewhat similar spurs, the leaf-scars are much smaller, and show on
their surface only one tiny cicatrice. In Taxodium there are no spurs, and the scars
which are left where the twigs have fallen off show only one central cicatrice.
VARIETIES
The following forms are known in cultivation :
Var. variegata. Leaves blotched and streaked with pale yellow.
Var. pendula. Branches more or less pendulous.
Var. macrophylla laciniata. Leaves much larger than in the ordinary form,
8 inches or more in width, and divided into 3 to 5 lobes, which are themselves
subdivided.
Var. triloba. Scarce worthy of recognition, as the leaves in all Ginkgo trees are
exceedingly variable in lobing.
Var. fastigiata. Columnar in shape, the branches being directed almost
vertically upwards. 1
DISTRIBUTION AND HISTORY
The wild habitat of Ginkgo biloba, the only species now living, is not known
for certain. The late Mrs. Bishop, in a letter to the Standard, Aug. 17, 1899,
reported that she had observed it growing wild in Japan, in the great forest north
ward from Lebunge^ on Volcano Bay in Yezo, and also in the country at the
sources of the great Gold and Min rivers in Western China. However, all scientific
travellers in Japan and the leading Japanese botanists and foresters deny its
being indigenous in any part of Japan ; and botanical collectors have not
observed it truly wild in China. Consul - General Hosie 2 says it is common in
Szechuan, especially in the hills bounding the upper waters of the river Min ; but
he does not explicitly assert that it is wild there. Its native habitat has yet to be
1 See Garden, 1 890, xxxviii. 602. An interesting article by W. Falconer, who gives some curious details concerning
the Ginkgo tree in the United States.
2 Parliamentary Papers, China, No. 5, 1904 ; Consul- General Hosie 's Report, 1 8. Mr. E. H. Wilson in all his explora
tions of Western China never saw any but cultivated trees.
Ginkeo 59
discovered; and I would suggest the provinces of Hunan, Chekiang, and Anhwei
in China as likely to contain it in their as yet unexplored mountain forests.
The earliest mention of the tree in Chinese literature occurs in the Chung Sim
Shu, a work on agriculture, which dates from the 8th century, A.D. The author of
the great Chinese herbal (Pen-Tsao-Kang-Mu, 1 578 A.D.) does not cite any previous
writers, but mentions that it occurs in Kiangnan (the territory south of the Yangtse),
and is called Ya-chio-tze, " duck's foot," on account of the shape of the leaves. At
the beginning of the Sung dynasty (1000 A.D.), the fruit was taken as tribute, and
was then called Yin-hsing," silver apricot," from its resemblance to a small apricot
with a white kernel. In the Chih-Wrt,-Ming, xxxi. 27, there is a good figure of the
foliage and fruit; and the statement is made that in order to obtain fruit the tree
should be planted on the sides of ponds.
At present it occurs planted in the vicinity of temples in China, Japan, and
Corea. It has always been the custom of the Chinese to preserve portions of the
natural forest around their temples; and in this way many indigenous species have
been preserved that otherwise would have perished with the spread of agriculture
and the destruction of the forests for firewood and timber, in all districts traversed
by waterways. Most of the curious conifers in China and Japan have a very
limited distribution, and Ginkgo is probably no exception ; though it is possible
that it may still exist in the region indicated above.
I have never seen any remarkable specimens in China; but Bunge* says that
he saw one at Peking, of prodigious height and 40 feet in circumference.
In Japan Elwes says that it is planted occasionally in temple courts, gardens,
and parks. He did not see any very large specimen of the tree, the best being one
in the court of the Nishi Hongagi temple at Kioto, which was of no great height,
but had a bole about 15 feet in girth at 3 feet, where it divided into many wide-
spreading branches which covered an area of 90 paces in circumference. This tree
had green leaves and buds on the old wood of the trunk close to the ground, which
he did not notice in other places.
Rein 2 says that the largest he knew of is at the temple of Kozenji near Tokyo,
and this in 1884 was 7.55 metres in girth, and according to Lehman about 32 metres
high. There is also one in the Shiba park, which in 1874 was 6.30 metres in girth.
The tree is sometimes grown in a dwarf state in pots, but does not seem to be a
favourite in Japan. The wood is somewhat like that of maple in grain, of a yellowish
colour, fine grained, but not especially valued, though it is used for making chess
boards and chessmen, chopping blocks, and as a groundwork for lacquer ware.
The nuts are sometimes eaten boiled or roasted, but are not much thought of.
Ginkgo was first made known to Europeans by Kaempfer, 3 who discovered it in
Japan in 1690, and published in 1712 a description with a good figure of the foliage
and fruit. Pallas 4 visited the market town of Mai-mai-cheng, opposite Kiachta, in
1772, and saw there Ginkgo fruit for sale which had been brought from Peking.
1 Bunge, in Bull. Soc. d'Agric. du Depart, de VHerault, 1 833.
8 Rein, Industries of Japan. 3 Kaempfer, Amanitates Exotica, 8 11.
* Pallas, Jfeisen difrcfy yersch. Provinzen des Kussischen Ketches, 1 768-1773, vol. iii.