Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot

by Peter Crane, Pollyanna von Knorring (Illustrator)

Perhaps the world’s most distinctive tree, ginkgo has remained stubbornly unchanged for more than two hundred million years. A living link to the age of dinosaurs, it survived the great ice ages as a relic in China, but it earned its reprieve when people first found it useful about a thousand years ago. Today ginkgo is beloved for the elegance of its leaves, prized for its edible nuts, and revered for its longevity. This engaging book tells the rich and engaging story of a tree that people saved from extinction—a story that offers hope for other botanical biographies that are still being written. Inspired by the historic ginkgo that has thrived in London’s Kew Gardens since the 1760s, renowned botanist Peter Crane explores the history of the ginkgo from its mysterious origin through its proliferation, drastic decline, and ultimate resurgence. Crane also highlights the cultural and social significance of the its medicinal and nutritional uses, its power as a source of artistic and religious inspiration, and its importance as one of the world’s most popular street trees. Readers of this book will be drawn to the nearest ginkgo, where they can experience firsthand the timeless beauty of the oldest tree on Earth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Plants, Natural History, Biology, History

408 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Gavin Dobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Crane, Dean and Professor,School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University and formerly Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, presents us with a beautifully-written book in homage to the ginkgo tree. Now adorning the streets of many cities and gardens around the world, ginkgos had retreated to a few remote valleys in rural China when they were rediscovered in the 18th Century, propagated and shipped widely throughout the Western world. Today's ginkgos are remarkably unchanged from their fossilized relatives of 200 million years ago. The ginkgos you see on your street in New York would have been recognized by the dinosaurs; they have witnessed evolution and mass extinctions over eons of time.
The particular genius of this book is that it is accessible to everybody while not compromising scientific content. The author describes how trees photosynthesize and drink, how the leaf-pattern of ginkgos differs from other trees. He has a broad reach of history: ancient ginkgos are found in the precincts of Korean, Japanese and Chinese temples; the nuts are popular in oriental cuisine; one of the oldest ginkgos lives in Kew Gardens outside London. It may seem odd to say this about a palaeo-botany book, but I couldn't put it down. It deserves wide circulation. Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot is educational and entertaining at the same time: read it !

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only is this a fascinating and thorough history of the ginkgo, but this book calls us to re-examine how we view and engage with the natural world in the 21st century.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tribute to Gingko biloba trees, but also trees and biology. Like my dinosaur book, this book takes a look at a larger picture of the world through the eyes of Gingko. PBL perspective.

Bought the book after hearing Peter Crane give a lecture based on the book at Royal Botanical Gardens.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! If you want to know about the Ginkgo tree hen this is the book! It is both scholarly and accessible. You will learn the science, culture, history, and medicine of this tree and other ancient trees.

[Jame Amoroso · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my 10 year old and we were both fascinated by the story. The book provides a great overview of paleontology and other aspects of botany as viewed through a ginkgo lens.

[Michael Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ginkgo trees were spread around the world in temperate climate zones before, during and after the dinosaurs roamed the earth, but at the end of the last ice age, they almost became extinct, surviving only in a small part of Asia, and unable to move their habitat in line with shifting climate zones. As the species stood on the brink, the early Chinese culture took a shine to the weird-looking tree and humans spread it around the world again. Amid the thousands of species that Homo sapiens has driven into extinction, here is one that we probably saved from this fate.

Peter Crane tells this story in a leisurely pace, and with a collecting botanist’s patience, telling us about each fossil leaf found here, and each ginkgo tree planted there, which can be a bit tiring for impatient readers. If you don’t know the eons of Earth history by heart, keep a table at hand, because the author uses them frequently and without giving numbers as backup. However, the appeal of a life form that saw the dinosaurs come and go prevails and makes this book a fascinating, if somewhat slow, read.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always loved gingko trees. I planted a young male gingko in my front yard around 25 years ago, and have been amazed and intrigued by its beauty ever since. I thought surely I would enjoy a book about gingko trees but alas, this book turned out to be a somewhat tedious long winded ramble through 200 million years of geologic, botanical and cultural history. It also included some biographical descriptions of the author’s professional and personal life. The end result felt to me like an awkward hybrid between an academic treatise and a book written for a more general popular audience.

Gingkos have a unique and fascinating history, and this book has its interesting parts, and a lovely cover illustration. But it contains too many tangents and meandering digressions of negligible interest, along with a lot of discussion about trees in general. Had it been more succinctly written, I might have enjoyed it more. As it was, I ended up skimming through large swaths of it.

[A3aan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trees. They slow us down, they teach us the virtue of patience, and they remind us to think about all that has gone before and what is to come.

Wellicht niet voor elke lezer een geschikt boek. Desondanks ben ik dankbaar dat deze man de tijd heeft genomen om met zoveel aandacht en tederheid te schrijven over de boom die mijn affiniteit met de natuur liet beginnen.

[Svetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good! I learned a lot. I had to do a research paper for college and I loved adding this book for my essay paper about ginkgo’s.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Distinctive leaves and the golden color come fall, the gingko tree has managed to survive at least two major extinction events in the 200 million years of it's existence. Ancient varieties have been found on nearly every continent. Living tree forests were restricted to a few small areas in China and flowed out from there across Asia and eventually recolonizing Europe and North America.

This book - surprisingly well organized - goes into the ancestry of the gingko, growth, gender and sex life (including the stinky seeds that provide a tasty addition to Asian cuisine). How it was named - not only the Latinized version but the varieties in China and Japan. It expanded across thee gardens of the world. It's uses as a food source, as a decorative tree lining city streets and as a pharmaceutical.
The possible causes for it's prehistory expansion and eventual decline.

And ending with a discussion of the human love of trees. Comparing bad genes verses bad luck. The danger of critically endangered trees as well as the different approaches that some countries are taking to preserve these rarities. They either restrict access to their native plants while others work with organizations to propagate and disburse seedlings across the world as long as they don't endanger local fauna. Which leads to what the legacy of not only the gingko but all trees - they take generations to mature, tying us to the past as well as the future.

Lavishly illustrated with photos of some of the oldest gingko trees across the world as well as some pencil illustrations from Chinese and Japanese artifacts displaying images of or from gingko wood.

The actual manuscript ends on page 277 with a 5-page listing of the common and Latin names of various plants as well as which ones are extinct, followed by 50 pages of notes and finishing with the bibliography and index. And the notes are interesting to read along with the chapters.

Probably more than I would ever need to know about the tree but the author's information and attention to detail makes a very enjoyable read.

2019-095

[Mathieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, a whole book about the ginkgo is interesting and educational. This amazing tree, which has been around for about 300,000 years, is worth reading about.

With a history that long, Crane takes us through what was happening with the continents and climate during those eons, and how this species could have survived when most others did not. He covers the physiology not only of ginkgo, but of all trees and how climate and microclimate limit the range in which it will survive and thrive. We learn how the extermination of large animals, by climate change or by man, may have affected the seed dispersal mechanism the ginkgo evolved with.

Now the ginkgo and other "near-death" species have been dispersed and propagated by man, and their survival is more likely. The ginkgo has become valued for its nuts and medicinal uses. World wide efforts are in place to disperse trees like the ginkgo and Wollemi pine which were both found with extremely limited populations that could have easily been exterminated by "bad luck" events. The future of the ginkgo is discussed by Crane as a part of the big picture of climate change and habitat loss caused by man.

Some Quotes:

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now. -- Chinese proverb
- p. 8

Note the ranges of ginkgo fossils in North America, including the Clarno Formation near Fossil, OR, pages 138 and 139. Also the Bridge Creek flora from the John Day Basin, and Willamette flora near Eugene, OR, page 154.

Trees, especially trees like ginkgo, which connect us to the deep history of our planet, ask us to reflect more often and think more carefully about all we love when the short view rules our world and everything in it.
- p. 277

[Rex Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The natural and cultural history of Ginkgo biloba told by former director of Kew Royal Botanical Garden Peter Crane. Especially interesting facts to me:
- Short and long shoot and different leaf morphology.
- fossil records of ginkgo-like plants stretching back to ~220 million years ago. Possibly to > 300 million years ago but evidence is currently flimsy
- the ebb and wane of ginkgo-like fossil records, and it’s link to climate events and rise of angiosperms
- the discovery of moving sperm in Ginkgo (contemporary to the same discovery in Cycads) establishes the evolutionary link between Vascular plants and Seed plants
- how Ginkgo got it’s name through a very specific version of Japanese dictionary
- In US, Ginkgo biloba accounts for 74.4 billions tree, covering 8% of the total national tree canopy!

[Liam Feeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an overall biography of the Ginkgo tree, Peter Crane does an excellent job covering nearly every aspect of its ecology, history, use, and meaning. This book is a really good read for anyone interested in plants or just looking to learn about one of the worlds most prized trees. Some sections are better than others (more engaging and understandable) but I definitely enjoyed the sections "Origin and history" "Use" and "Future" the most. While learning about the vast history of this beloved tree I found myself really interested in Cranes personal exposure to working at Kew Gardens and Ginkgo itself. Definitely a favorite of mine and is why I gave it a 4/5.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t let the subject scare you away. Mr. Crane has taken a tree that he loves and woven a surprisingly enjoyable book out of it. Yes, the book tells you much more about the history of and traits of the ginkgo tree than most persons want or need to know. However, Nr. Crane has a delightful writing style. Chapters are short. He illuminates the topic in each chapter with personal or professional (he’s a paleo-botanist, I think) stories and anecdotes. And it’s a very interesting tree!!

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half of this book is fascinating biology - of trees in general, and of ginkgo in particular. The other half is a highly enervating recitation of which botanist or paleontologist studied with whom, who found which fossil where, and who worked at which university when.

[Laylay l · Rating 3 out of 5]

bilimsel bir kitapta sürekli incilden alıntı yapmak nasıl bir saçmalık... bir japon ya da bir çinlinin yazdığı ginkyo kitabını okumayı tercih ederdim. ayrıca görmek isteyenler için istanbulda ıhlamur kasrı'nda 2 tane ginkyo agacı var, başka nerede var bilenler yazsın?

[Gerardo Avalos · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on plants I have ever read. It explores the history of Ginkgo, its evolution and human use and leaves a very compelling message about its lesson to humankind.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cool and thorough book about the ginkgo tree. Took forever to read because the font is quite small for my older eyes.

[Paige]

DNF at p10

Just bouncing off this. Not sure why — perhaps that it’s a bit scattered.

1.2.25

[Janet Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were lots of interesting tidbits that kept me reading—well, okay, I did a fair amount of skimming—like the fact that ginkgo is the only tree whose leaf veining is fan-like and non-reticulated or what exactly makes the fruit of the tree stink so fiercely. (That would be butyric acid, also found in both rancid butter and in human vomit.) But in the end it’s hard to say what I thought of this book. It felt too down-in-the-weeds academic for a general readership and not nearly specialized enough for an academic readership. It also went off frequently on tangents, paragraphs or even pages at a time about, say, the biography of a naturalist who studied ginkgo reproduction or the complete contents (mostly pottery) of a salvaged ancient shipwreck that also happened to contain a few ginkgo seeds. There probably just isn’t enough to say (again, to a non-academic audience) to fill a 300-page book about the ginkgo without including these side trips. Still, I’m glad I read (yeah, skimmed) it because, as I said, those tidbits were interesting.

Thank you to the author and the Goodreads First Reads program for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please note I received this book for free from Goodreads First-reads.

Ginkgo is a very well written book about the natural history of the Ginkgo tree. It is not a book you breeze right through but rather read and absorb information, at least for me. I have my degree in Conservation Biology so this was of particular interest to me. I really love reading books on animals and plants in order to get to know our world better. This book did a great job on this account. It takes you through the complete history of Ginkgo starting at the fossil record and moving to how it is doing in our world today.

I would recommend for anyone interested in gardening and flora.

[Nicole M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! This book dedicated to the living-ancient tree ginkgo gives everything I could ask for from a nonfiction book. Sir Peter Crane delivers a charming and loving look into the finer points of the ginkgo tree, informative as well as accessible (even to a not-so-botanically-inclined reader as myself). The biological and cultural history of the tree is explained in beautiful prose, along with numerous interesting side-notes (in the form of endnotes). I learned a lot of about ginkgo, about trees in general, about botany, and other seemingly unrelated topics. Truly a lovely ode to our magnificent tree--now one of my favorite books!

[Wing · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wide breadth of this book is dizzying. From ecology to gastronomy, from culture to horticulture, from history to climatology, from evolution to medication, from botany to chemistry ... ... the book keeps going tirelessly but can at times tire even an ardent reader through its often meandering digressions. Anything that the author can think of about Ginkgo is there. The resilience of this 200+ million year old plant and its luck are indeed amazing and will hold the reader in awe. Nature is indeed very fascinating.

[Danielle T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough on the biological, cultural, and natural history of Ginkgo biloba- would probably have a more substantive review had I read it in one consistent sitting, but that's alright.

[Ann]

Top 5 Science and Nature - PLA