Maidenhair Tree Family

R. David Whetstone

Trees , deciduous, dioecious (possibly rarely monoecious). Bark gray, furrowed, with flattened ridges. Long shoots and short (spur) shoots present. Roots fibrous to woody. Leaves simple, alternate to fascicled, stomates abaxial; apices deeply cleft to truncate; petioles equal to or exceeding blades; resin canals absent. Pollen cones borne on spurs, catkinlike; sporophylls distributed along axis; bracts absent; pollen spheric, not winged. Seed cones absent; ovules 2, pedunculate, subtended by collar believed to comprise 2 modified megasporophylls, borne on spurs. Seeds with fleshy outer coat, inner coat hard; cotyledons 2--3.

Genus 1 (6+ known from fossils), species 1: native to China, cultivated in the flora.

SELECTED REFERENCES

Page, C. N. 1990. Coniferophytina: Ginkgoaceae. In: K. Kubitzki et al., eds. 1990+. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. 1+ vol. Berlin etc. Vol. 1, pp. 284--289.

Lower Taxon

• Ginkgo Linnaeus