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Photo left:
Ginkgo biloba on the edge of the Tianmu Shan Reserve (province Zhejiang) in China. Height about 30 m, 108 cm (diameter at breast heigth). Photos below:
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Ginkgo biloba trees are on the
UNEP-WCMC List of Threatened Species.
circle: Tianmu Shan Reserve
This area (1018 ha) has known human activities
for about 1500 years, so it is plausible, since the Ginkgo has a long history
as an ornamental tree in the area, that its growth at this site has been
caused by human actions. There about 244 Ginkgos grow mostly on stream
banks, steep rocky slopes and the edges of exposed cliffs. Many are multitrunked,
with at least two trunks, caused by damage experienced from soil erosion
or other factors that stimulated root-like "basal chi-chi" at the base
of the trees which is a very important factor in explaining the long
term persistence of the Ginkgo in this Reserve.
About 10% of the Ginkgos in the Tianmu Shan
Reserve is estimated to be over 1000 years of age.
The Ginkgos' mean diameter in the Reserve
at breast height is 45 cm, mean height 18.4 m.
With
thanks to Dr. Peter Del Tredici, Director of Living Collections, Arnold
Arboretum of Harvard University, Jamaica Plain, MA (USA), who gave me permission
to use these photos on my homepage.
From:
Del Tredici P, Ginkgo biloba, Enzyklopädie der Holzgewächse:
Handbuch und Atlas der Dendrologie - 6. Erg. Lfg., 10 pp. Ecomed Verlag,
Landsberg, 1996.
Black
and white photo from: Del Tredici P, Ling H, Yang G, The Ginkgos of
Tian Mu Shan, Conservation Biology, volume 6, no.2:202-209, June 1992.
All photos on this page © Peter Del Tredici.
Related links:
International
Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources: Red list of threatened
species
UNESCO
- MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory: China-Tianmushan
More photos of Ginkgo trees in China: click here.
© Cor Kwant