Ginkgo. The Living Fossil. 2018. illus. 286 p. Hardcover.- Bilingual (Chinese / English).

Due October 2018. Orders will be recorded. -The Ginkgo has seen the rise and fall of mountains and seas in thecourse of hundreds of millions of years. It leaves and nuts can beboth food and medicine, while its stems and branches are prized wood.In 1989, at Yi Ma Formation of Henan Province, China, a team of paleontologists led by Zhiyan Zhou and Bole Zhang unearthed some Ginkgo fossils, that they later traced back 170 million years - the oldest Ginkgo fossils found to date. Along with other fossil discoveries in Europe and North America, it is evident that Ginkgos once flourished on our planet at ancient times.Male and female Ginkgos are separate trees. In spring, pollen cones grow on male trees while ovules develop on females. Carried by wind, pollen travels miles across hills and rivers, meanwhile the ovule sends out a drop of liquid on the top to catch pollen passing by. After the meeting, the drop retreats and leads the way for pollen to settle down in the growing pollen tube, where sperm develop. Later in autumn matured sperm leave the tube and swim to the egg, which then develops in the ovule, making the actual fertilization to produce an embryo. The embryo continues to grow for two months even after ripe seeds are picked.Each part of the tree is of economic value. The wood is ideal for carving. Besides the nutrition in the nuts, its outer flesh can be used as a kind of insecticide. Since scientists found that Ginkgo leaf extracts could improve blood circulation, mid last century, they have been widely used as nutritional supplements, medicines, and more recently cosmetics and drinks.