A 'living fossil' - the ginkgo lineage is 270 million years old, native to China. Often called 公孙树 ('grandfather-grandson tree') because the long-lived tree fruits only when 'grandsons' inherit it. Beijing's 钓鱼台 ginkgo avenue and Chengdu's autumn streets are tourist sights when leaves turn gold.
memory
银 (silver) + 杏 (apricot) - the nut's pale flesh and apricot-like fruit gave the tree its name; the same characters were borrowed into Japanese as 'ichō' and via 'ginkyo' became scientific 'ginkgo'.
