Ginkgo Biloba

The Ginkgo Biloba tree was once distributed throughout the world, but then went extinct everywhere except a small area of China. It was thought to have been preserved there by Chinese monks because all of the trees are genetically similar.

The Ginkgo likes moist, well-drained soil and prefers full sunlight. It grows on the east coast from New York to North Carolina including Kentucky and West Virginia. It is used as a shade tree because:

• It grows to 25 meters in height.
• It tolerates pollution in urban areas very well.
• Six Ginkgo Biloba trees within two kilometers of ground zero survived the nuclear blast that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
• The tree has a lifespan of more than one hundred years.

The Ginkgo Biloba tree has been usedf as medicine to enhance memory with some moderate success. An extract of its leaves has been shown to be moderately successful in improving dementia.