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Ginkgo
 Image from Anders Sandberg |
Also called the maidenhair tree.
An Old Earth gymnosperm tree that arose during the Permian and was common during the Mesozoic Era, with worldwide distribution. The genus declined in numbers and diversity during the Cretaceous; the remaining one or two species decreased in range during the Cenozoic, and by the Holocene there was only one existing species, Ginkgo biloba, in a small area of southern China. It has fan-shaped leaves divided into two lobes. A large number of extinct species have been lazurogened, all with the distinctive fan-shaped leaves seen in fossil remains. A popular and hardy plant.
Some provolved, sentient species are known.
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Stephen Inniss
Initially published on 31 October 2001.
Initially published on 31 October 2001.
