Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

Common name: yin xing, Maidenhair Tree

Family: Ginkgoaceae (Ginkgo)

Distribution: China

IUCN Red list: Endangered

Life form: Deciduous tree

Comments: Admire the specimen opposite the Visitor Centre entrance or wander below the Residence Garden lawn and enjoy the plantings near the weather station. Seek out our largest ginkgo, a male tree, below the Brunet Pavilion, planted for posterity by Alfred and Effie Brunet, or contemplate the very compact, cv. Fastigiata, specimen in the Conifer Cultivar Garden. The nuts or 'silver apricots', which form on the female trees, are eaten in China and Japan. However, the rancid butter smell and falling fruit do not appeal in the West so the male trees are more often grown, especially as street trees. There is a female tree in Bed 17 of the Sydney Garden and our Tomah trees are starting to fruit and so far are mostly female. Resistance to pollution and disease and the brief but beautiful autumn display when the butter coloured leaves clothe the trees like a million migrating butterflies endear the ginko as a superlative ornamental plant. The ginko has much to tell us about long-term survival as the fossil record, back to the Permian Period 275 - 245 million years ago, contains specimens with a remarkably close resemblance to the present day trees.