Ginkgo

choi

Adrian Higgins, The Ginkgo Tree Revival. Washington Post, Oct 2, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/li ... b087acd6_story.html

Quote:

Ginkgo "individuals are either male or female (far more common is the hermaphroditic flower [in various other plants]); and its pollen, in the act of fertilization, act as swimming sperm. This phenomenon is also seen in other primitive plants such as ferns and is linked to the fact that they emerged from a wet environment.

Ginkgo trees "are free of disease and pests

"Its sex is not revealed until it reaches fruiting age, about 25 years, so if you wish to plant a clean ginkgo, the answer is to get a male clone.


Note:
(a)
(i) ginkgo (n; New Latin, from Japanese ginkyō 銀; First Known Use 1773)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ginkgo

Note the pronunciation.
(ii) The Ja.wikipedia.org says
(A) that the tree is: ichō (katakana: イチョ)
(B) and that the nut/seed is: gin-nan (hinagana: ぎんなん) or ginkyō (hinagana: ぎんきょう).

Both the tree and nut share kanji 銀杏.

Japanese Wiki also says, "種小名 biloba はラテン語による造語で、「2つの裂片 (two lobes) 」の意味。葉が大きく2裂する点を指したもの。"  The translation: The species name niloba is a coined Latin word, meaning "two lobes" and referring to its deeply cleft leaves.

(b) "the [ginkgo] tree will offer a little arboreal tremor and drop its entire canopy in one go. * * * The phenomenon leaves a nobbly, naked tree"
(i) nobbly (adj): "variant spelling of KNOBBLY"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nobbly
(ii) knobbly (adj)
"having very small knobs <a knobbly walking stick>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knobbly

(c) "Among seed-bearing plants, botanists know five groups: the vast tribe of flowering plants, from maples to rice; the conifers; the palmlike cycads; and an obscure clan called the gnetales, whose most famous member is the ephedra. The fifth group is represented by the lone surviving species of the living fossil we know as Ginkgo biloba."

plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant
(section 2 Diversity: "seeding plants" have five "divisions")