The Maidenhair Tree

Abstract

THE origin of the curious generic name, Ginkgo biloba, of this tree is very fully discussed, with reference to original Chinese and Japanese descriptions, by Prof. A. C. Moule in T'Oung Pao, 23, published by the firm of E. J. Brill, Leyden. The name seems to be due to Engelbert Kaempfer, a German naturalist (1651–1716) who was in Japan apparently about 1690–2. The Kaempfer MSS. are stated by Larousse to be preserved in the Museum of Botany at Leyden where, however, search has failed to find them ; Prof. Moule, however, through Sir Albert Seward, has traced the original entries of Kaempfer in his manuscripts in the British Museum. These seem to make it clear that when Kaempfer, some eighteen years later, published the names from his original descriptions, he deciphered incorrectly an original manuscript entry of Sankyo in the form of Ginkgo, where it is difficult to decide whether the ‘g’ is a slip in transcription or a misprint that has been overlooked. Thus “this strange word, which is unpronounceable and probably ought never to have existed, has been for nearly two centuries and, I suppose, will always be the generic name of this beautiful and interesting tree”. There is a very full discussion of the numerous Chinese names of this tree which are all either descriptive names of two or more words or are frankly borrowed from other trees, suggesting that the tree was not known in northern China during the centuries when the Chinese classical civilization and language were being formed. This may confirm the view of F. N. Meyer and others that the tree is indigenous in the forests of Chě-Chiang, but in favour of the other view that it survives only in cultivation is the fact that no large specimens have been reported from forests. There is an interesting discussion of its fire-resisting qualities, which were exemplified by the recovery of many trees in Tokyo after the big fire that followed the earthquake in 1923 ; popular-testimony thus made a huge Ginkgo tree largely responsible for the survival of the great temple of Kwannon at Asakasa ; it was believed that the tree literally rained moisture on the roof, and also protected it against burning fragments carried in the wind.