Ginkgo trees are old. Like really old. Older even than the city of Xuzhou in northwest Jiangsu. That it be the oldest in the Province, dating back 6,000 years, makes it a fitting home therefore for forests of ginkgo.
Now is also the time of year to make a trip to Xuzhou, or specifically to Pizhou, quite some way to the east of Xuzhou, situated at the “tail” of the horse-shaped Luoma Lake. The reward for such is a ginkgo forest park covering an area of more than 200 square kilometres. If the ginkgo is an endangered species on an international level, it is hardly so in this locale.
The so called “Pizhou Ginkgo Time Tunnel” shall surely be the destination for many a traveller coming to Xuzhou when late autumn approaches each year.
Along this three-kilometre long village road, the ginkgo tree beaches weave a golden sky while the many layers of fallen leaves make for a golden carpet on which to walk.
Ginkgo trees are also synonymous with autumn in Xuzhou city itself. Students in the Quanshan campus of Jiangsu Normal University are blessed with their own mini ginkgo forest, while over in Tongshan New Area, ginkgo trees are planted all around Haihe Lu, Songshan Lu and Changjiang Lu, among many others. Their long history makes for an ideal contrast with the cutting edge technologies being developed nearby.
Indeed, fossils very similar to today’s ginkgo have been found to date back 170 million years, in the Middle Jurassic period. To put that in perspective, that’s before continental drift pulled North America, Greenland, Europe and Asia apart.
The genus ginkgo thrived across this land at the time, diversifying in the process. But it was the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact of the infamous K-Pg Extinction Level Event which sped up the ginkgo’s decline.
Very quickly, the ginkgo adiantoides was the only ginkgo species left in the Northern Hemisphere. By the time of the most recent ice ages of 2 million years ago, the ginkgo had disappeared from the fossil record everywhere but central China.
Most recently, the ginkgo’s tenacity was to be proved again, in 1945 Hiroshima, with six ginkgo trees which were growing close to ground zero. They were among the few living things to survive.
Though severely charred from the nuclear blast, the trees were soon healthy and are still alive today. As are many which witnessed other important events in world history. Some of the ginkgo trees still alive and well can remember the invention of gunpowder and the first printed money.
In Xuzhou, there are in fact 12 ginkgo trees which are over 1,000 years old and 69 that have hung around to have celebrated their 500th birthday.
Their age has also provided for plenty time to grow tall. While some specimens of ginkgo in China can grow to over 50 metres, heights of 20-23 metres are a lot more common.
With their erratic branches, ginkgo trees usually have very deep roots, making them resistant to wind and snow damage.
Such a long history has also provided humankind with plenty time to find a multitude of uses for ginkgo.
As a herb, ginkgo is used in the prevention of altitude sickness, and in the treatment of cognitive disorders, dementia, vertigo, memory loss and premenstrual syndrome, among many other conditions.
Such remedies have their origins in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Utilised for treatments in the Middle Kingdom since the 11th Century, the Europeans have also more recently got on board the gingko flying carpet.
The European Medicines Agency Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products has concluded that medicines containing ginkgo leaf are indeed appropriate for the treatment of mild age-related dementia and mild peripheral vascular disease in adults.
Away from medicine, the hard wood of the ginkgo makes it ideal for ornamental works, while the foul-smelling fruit that is only produced by the female ginkgo is employed in edible toasted treats.
With China as its ancient home, the ginkgo in due course found its way to the West. In the early 1700s, explorers returning to Europe took some ginkgo seeds with them and in 1784, the ginkgo was introduced to America.
This of course got the scientific community as a whole interested. Today, there is a significant body of thought that believes the ginkgo to be the living link in the evolution of ferns to trees.
With this increasing knowledge of the wonders of the ginkgo putting its golden splendour in late autumn top of many people’s bucket lists, forget not a local saying. “If you want to appreciate ginkgo in Jiangsu, you have to go to Xuzhou; if you want to appreciate ginkgo in Xuzhou, you can’t miss Pizhou”.