Ginkgo biloba - The maidenhair tree Evening light on the ivy-
covered trunk of a "living fossil" "In 1492, Colombus discovered
America." We all know that's true, but we are also aware that
this statement would have sounded pretty odd to anyone who
happened to be already living in America at the time. The story
of the discovery of the ginkgo tends to get told in the same,
somewhat confusing, way, so I'll attempt to redress the balance
by telling it from the Japanese point of view. "It's a sunny day
in Nagasaki, and it's 1690. Do we know what ichou is? We
certainly do! It's a common enough tree, with at least one
growing within the grounds of most (Buddhist) temples and
(Shinto) shrines hereabouts. It's a big tree, and it can live a
long time, perhaps for thousands of years, they say. Do we know
why it's called ichou, or where it came from? Not quite so easy,
but surely must have come from China. (Most things do.) Probably
with Buddhism, or something. We usually write the name with the
Chinese characters for sil