A tree from the time of dinosaurs
Ginkgo´s leaves:
The Ginkgos had survived in China and there they were mainly found in monestaries in the mountains and in palace and temple gardens, where Buddhist monks cultivated the tree from about 1100 AD for medical reasons and its good qualities. This tree belongs to a group of plants called gymnosperms ( do you remember ? ). Gymnosperms means "naked seeds" ( from Greek: gymnos = naked and sperma = seed ). These plants´ seeds are not enclosed in a ripened fruit but are protected by cones. However, a few gymnosperms, such as ginkgo, produce seed-bearing structures that actually do look "fruity". The seeds are surrounded by flesh. In fact, they look like plums. Look at them in the images below:
The ripened fleshy seedcoat when falling on the ground and decaying has a 'disagreeable' odour. Nevertheless people from Korea, Japan and China appreciate the nuts. Most gymnosperms have both sexes on the same plant, but the Ginkgo is dioecious ("two houses" in Greek), which means there are separate male and female trees. The female trees are less popular for planting in the Western countries due to the smell of its seeds.
This is a film that I found in youtube:
And finally this amusing video with music by Georges Brassens:
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