Monday, October 25, 2004
Did you remember to take your ginkgo today?
I know we'll all be complaining about the cold in a month or two, but let us take the time to be thankful: the past few weeks have been absolutely perfect weather. Being deprived of the regular temperate-zone four-season cycle for seven years (in Panama and Arizona) really instilled in me a passion for spring and autumn.
Auburn is such a pretty city when the leaves are changing. I don't remember it looking like this in Prattville. Maybe it's the work of the landscaping students, whose laboratory is the campus. They do a good job!
Ginkgo biloba is my favorite tree, and I'll tell you why.
It's the only surviving species in it's phylum, Ginkgophyta, and doesn't grow in the wild on its own. It's a completely domesticated plant. By Mother Nature's rules, it really should be extinct, but we love it so much, we've kept it thriving in our ancient Chinese gardens and our city streets for thousands of years. If you live in Auburn, you can see some in the median of College Street just Samford's side of Toomer's Corner, and also on the front steps of the library. People take pills made from its leaf extract to improve circulation and memory. There isn't very much research to really support its medicinal value, but it is a marvelous organism nonetheless: one specimen in Hiroshima survived the atomic bomb dropped JUST ONE MILE from its happy sidewalk home! Now, that's resiliency.
It's dioecious, which means that each tree has a gender: only the female ones can produce seeds, and only the males make pollen. Flowering plants are bisexual and can therefore pollinate themselves. Not so with Ginkgophyta. Since it's a gymnosperm, it doesn't produce fruit. Only seeds, like a pine cone or a cycad. Unfortunately, its seeds smell really bad, so you usually only see the males planted out in public. The one on the right if you're facing the library in Auburn is a female, though, if you want to experience the stench for yourself. It smells a lot like dog poop.
Its leaves turn this brilliant yellow during October and November; they were streching out like a fire into the bright blue afternoon as I was walking home today.
It made me smile. :)
It's alternatively known as the "maidenhair tree." Do you see it?
Auburn is such a pretty city when the leaves are changing. I don't remember it looking like this in Prattville. Maybe it's the work of the landscaping students, whose laboratory is the campus. They do a good job!
Ginkgo biloba is my favorite tree, and I'll tell you why.
It's the only surviving species in it's phylum, Ginkgophyta, and doesn't grow in the wild on its own. It's a completely domesticated plant. By Mother Nature's rules, it really should be extinct, but we love it so much, we've kept it thriving in our ancient Chinese gardens and our city streets for thousands of years. If you live in Auburn, you can see some in the median of College Street just Samford's side of Toomer's Corner, and also on the front steps of the library. People take pills made from its leaf extract to improve circulation and memory. There isn't very much research to really support its medicinal value, but it is a marvelous organism nonetheless: one specimen in Hiroshima survived the atomic bomb dropped JUST ONE MILE from its happy sidewalk home! Now, that's resiliency.
It's dioecious, which means that each tree has a gender: only the female ones can produce seeds, and only the males make pollen. Flowering plants are bisexual and can therefore pollinate themselves. Not so with Ginkgophyta. Since it's a gymnosperm, it doesn't produce fruit. Only seeds, like a pine cone or a cycad. Unfortunately, its seeds smell really bad, so you usually only see the males planted out in public. The one on the right if you're facing the library in Auburn is a female, though, if you want to experience the stench for yourself. It smells a lot like dog poop.
Its leaves turn this brilliant yellow during October and November; they were streching out like a fire into the bright blue afternoon as I was walking home today.
It made me smile. :)
It's alternatively known as the "maidenhair tree." Do you see it?
