discovered; and I would suggest the provinces of Hunan, Chekiang, and Anhwei in China as likely to contain it in their as yet unexplored mountain forests.
The earliest mention of the tree in Chinese literature occurs in the Chung Shu Shu, a work on agriculture, which dates from the 8th century, a.d. The author of the great Chinese herbal (Pen-Tsao-Kang-Mu, 1578 a.d) does not cite any previous writers, but mentions that it occurs in Kiangnan (the territory south of the Yangtse), and is called Ya-chio-tze, "duck's foot," on account of the shape of the leaves. At the beginning of the Sung dynasty (1000 a.d), the fruit was taken as tribute, and was then called Yin-hsing, "silver apricot," from its resemblance to a small apricot with a white kernel. In the Chih-Wu-Ming, xxxi. 27, there is a good figure of the foliage and fruit; and the statement is made that in order to obtain fruit the tree should be planted on the sides of ponds.
At present it occurs planted in the vicinity of temples in China, Japan, and Corea. It has always been the custom of the Chinese to preserve portions of the natural forest around their temples; and in this way many indigenous species have been preserved that otherwise would have perished with the spread of agriculture and the destruction of the forests for firewood and timber, in all districts traversed by waterways. Most of the curious conifers in China and Japan have a very limited distribution, and Ginkgo is probably no exception; though it is possible that it may still exist in the region indicated above.
I have never seen any remarkable specimens in China; but Bunge[1] says that he saw one at Peking, of prodigious height and 40 feet in circumference.
In Japan Elwes says that it is planted occasionally in temple courts, gardens, and parks. He did not see any very large specimen of the tree, the best being one in the court of the Nishi Hongagi temple at Kioto, which was of no great height, but had a bole about 15 feet in girth at 3 feet, where it divided into many widespreading branches which covered an area of 90 paces in circumference. This tree had green leaves and buds on the old wood of the trunk close to the ground, which he did not notice in other places.
Rein[2] says that the largest he knew of is at the temple of Kozenji near Tokyo, and this in 1884 was 7.55 metres in girth, and according to Lehman about 32 metres high. There is also one in the Shiba park, which in 1874 was 6.30 metres in girth. The tree is sometimes grown in a dwarf state in pots, but does not seem to be a favourite in Japan. The wood is somewhat like that of maple in grain, of a yellowish colour, fine grained, but not especially valued, though it is used for making chess boards and chessmen, chopping blocks, and as a groundwork for lacquer ware. The nuts are sometimes eaten boiled or roasted, but are not much thought of.
Ginkgo was first made known to Europeans by Kaempfer,[3] who discovered it in Japan in 1690, and published in 1712 a description with a good figure of the foliage and fruit. Pallas[4] visited the market town of Mai-mai-cheng, opposite Kiachta, in 1772, and saw there Ginkgo fruit for sale which had been brought from Peking.
