Do you know the tree that is sometimes called Duck Foot?
This week's post by Sharol Nelson-Embry tells the story of the ginkgo tree,
an ancient tree first found in Asia.
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| photo by Sharol Nelson-Embry |
"I love this time of year with festive yard decorations around town and ginkgo trees putting on their bright-golden, leafy finery. Walking the quiet streets of my island-city town in San Francisco Bay, to exercise the dog and stretch my legs, I admire the leathery triangular leaves waving from branches like little banners or the drifts of them on the sidewalks and streets. When my children were young, we took every opportunity to explore and play in their bounty, throwing armfuls of them up in the air to rain down over us. My children are grown and flown now, but the trees remind me of the fun of those winter days.
Ginkgo trees are amazing for more than their colorful leaves. They exist largely unchanged since the Jurassic period, when they were widespread and dinosaurs roamed the earth. The trees are termed "living fossils" and are part of the conifer family. They nearly went extinct. Their salvation can be credited to Buddhist monks who found a few surviving trees and began cultivating and spreading them throughout China, Korea and Japan. Some of the oldest specimen are found adjacent to ancient Buddhist temple sites.
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| photo by Sharol Nelson-Embry |
Their edible nuts are considered a seasonal delicacy, though you have to put up with the noxious smell of the pulpy fruit that surrounds the ripe nut. The nuts are probably the main thing the monks were trying to perpetuate. Ginkgo trees are diecious, with separate male and female trees. Our street trees are primarily males as folks are averse to the stinky mess of the fruit borne by female trees, though I've come across a few females that somehow managing to avoid the saw.
The trees are very hardy, resistant to insects, disease, and poor air quality, part of their secret to longevity and popularity as city trees throughout the world. In Japan there are some trees that even survived the nucleur bomb in Hiroshima. It was predicted that nothing would be able to live in the bomb site for at least 75 years. The sturdy trees, though, survived and are still standing in what is now "Peace Park."
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| photo by Sharol Nelson-Embry |
The Ginkgo is actually a mispronunciation of the Chinese word "ginyo," which means "silver apricot." German physician and botanist, Englebert Kaempfer, traveled in Japan in the 1690s and brought ginkgos to Europe. Other names for the tree include "duck foot" and maidenhair tree. Duck foot is clearly related to the shape of the leaves. Maidenhairs seems to refer to a Japanese superstition that if a young girl brushes her hair under a full moon beneath the branches of a ginkgo and thinks of her love, they will marry.
When a tree species has been around for such a long time, it's bound to gather many stories, names and superstitions. As recently as the 1970s people believed that substances in the leaves help improve memory and prevent memory loss, probably since the leaf shape resembles a cross-section of the brain. No scientific research has proven the efficacy of this belief.
John Muir said, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." Nature instructs, heals, and inspires me. I hope you find your own connection with our beautiful natural world through the doorway of my blog:
https://bayislandnature.blogspot.com/
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| Large Ginkgo leaf from Tokyo's Arisagawa Park photo by Martha Slavin |
If you'd like to read more about this beautiful tree species, you can find more information here:
"Autumn Crown of Gold: Three Ancient Japanese Ginkgo Trees" by Takahashi Hiroshi
https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b05306/
"The Symbolic Meaning of the Ginkgo Tree" by Karyn Maier
https://www.hunker.com/13428589/the-symbolic-meaning-of-the-ginkgo-tree
"Life Story of the Oldest Tree on Earth" by Peter Crane
https://e360.yale.edu/features/peter_crane_history_of_ginkgo_earths_oldest_tree
I had no idea that a tree would be named duck foot. But I do love Ginkgos! Happy New Year!!!
ReplyDeleteI love them too. Just beautiful leaves. The trees grew in the backyard of a Tokyo friend. We would collect them for her family.
DeleteThanks for the enjoyable read, ripe with Ginkgo facts. I will now be on the lookout for the female trees, curious to see, smell and possibly even taste the seeds within the noxious fruit!
ReplyDeleteAnne, thank you for your comments. Look for the seeds in the fall. They are prolific!
DeleteI love them too! When I was young and walked home from school I use to collect them and make art projects with them instead of doing my homework. Evoked a wonderful memory, thank you! 🤗
ReplyDeleteKimmycakes, thanks for commenting about Sharol's post. Gingko trees are some of my favorites too. Sharol really knows so much about them.
DeleteI, too, love ginkgos and this is so interesting. Thank you for posting this and Happy New Year Martha!!!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite trees, Sara, and Sharol knows so much about them.
DeleteIt was so nice to read about your friends perspective on Gingko Trees. Most everyday I walk past an elementaty school which has many young gingko trees planted around the property. I’ve collected the beautiful yellow leaves and added them to my Thanksgiving table for decoration, always adding a bit of sparkle to my table. Thank you for sharing the history, now I’ll think of the longevity of the trees and it’s ancient roots as I enjoy their beauty on my morning walk. Mary M
ReplyDelete