Because the ginkgo is a rare species of Mesozoic relics, is a specialty of China, known as the "living fossil".

Ginkgo (scientific name: Ginkgo biloba), also known as the white fruit, Gongsun tree, belongs to the gymnosperm, and it is the same family of all the other plants have gone extinct, known as the "relics of the plant".

The ginkgo is born in the natural forest at an altitude of 500-1000 meters, acidic (pH 5-5.5) yellow soil, well-drained area, often mixed with willow, Cephalotaxus, blue fruit trees and other coniferous and broad-leaved tree species, growing vigorously.

Ginkgo's cultivation area is very wide: from Shenyang in the northeast, south of Guangzhou, east of East China, 40-1000 meters above sea level, southwest of Guizhou, western Yunnan (Tengchong) altitude of 2,000 meters or less are cultivated for the purpose of producing seeds, or as a garden tree species.

World War II in Hiroshima, Japan, by the U.S. atomic bombing, all the plants can not survive, only the ginkgo tree in a short period of time to break the ground, branching and leafy, vibrant.

September 1945 on the nuclear bombing center near the trees and other plants to investigate, people were surprised to find: a ginkgo tree is experienced after the nuclear bomb baptism is the first to resume sprouting plants, and did not find much deformity.

The ginkgo tree grows slowly, the life expectancy is extremely long, natural conditions from planting to ginkgo fruit to 20 years, 40 years to a large number of results, so some people call it "Gongsun tree", and later because of the tribute to the emperor, only renamed ginkgo.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Ginkgo

Baidu Encyclopedia - Plant Fossils

People's Daily Online - Why eat the right amount of white fruit?