2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Two incompatible words like "living" and "fossil" have combined to tell about the amazing Ginkgo tree. Having appeared in the earthly world hundreds of millions of years ago, it managed to survive many types of lush vegetation of those distant times, outwardly remaining in its original form
Permian period
According to scientists, the globe was born about 5 billion years ago. For the first hundreds of millions of years, the planet's formation processes proceeded very slowly. Still, because then there were only 6 (six) hours in the earthly day. How much can be done in such a short period?
To make it easier to study the geological life of the Earth, these 5 billion years were divided into time intervals, each of which received a personal name.
So, in the Permian period of the Paleozoic era, which (with rough rounding, may scientists forgive me) lasted 50 million years, a beautiful tree was born on a single continent of the planet among carnivorous and herbivorous foot and mouth disease, annoying and numerous insects. It so firmly sank its roots into the earth that it managed to survive all the cataclysms of the last 250 million years of the planet's life, including the spread of a single Pangea to modern continents and the mass extinction of animals and plants, which drew the line to the Permian period, which gave way to the Triassic period of the Mesozoic era.
The one and only
After a global catastrophe, caused by the fall of a huge meteorite, as suggested by a number of scientists, the Earth began to heal wounds, continuing to push the continents away from each other and guiding the evolution of animals and plants.
The warm climate of the Mesozoic era allowed the Ginkgo tree to experiment, creating different types of plants. The fossilized remains of leaves from that time indicate the existence of at least 15 species of such trees. They occupied vast areas of land, and in the fall they covered the surface of the earth with a thick layer of their decorative leaves.
But at the end of the Mesozoic, there was another cold snap, which claimed the lives of giant herbivores and many plant species. The tree described also trembled, but still managed to preserve only one species, which today we call "Ginkgo biloba" (with an emphasis on "o"), which in Latin sounds like "Ginkgo biloba" (Ginkgo biloba).
Life without haste
The tree's long life history taught it patience, stamina and endurance.
The tree is in no hurry to grow up, realizing that youth is easier to endure adversity, and the life span, reaching several thousand years, allows you to take your time.
Therefore, males (dioecious plant) only after 30 years of carefree life acquire yellowish catkins in order to leave offspring. Inflorescences appear simultaneously with the appearance of fancy foliage.
Females of the same age are late with flowering, showing two ovules on long pedicels at the beginning of summer. Ovules pollinated by the wind with pollen from male flowers are also in no hurry, fertilizing by autumn.
The embryo inside the fruit, which can be mistaken for a ripe apricot, is in no hurry to develop either. Only after the fruit falls to the ground does the embryo begin its mission.
Such unhurried life for modern people.
Action "Alley of Russia"
In the summer of 2014, a vote was held in the country to choose the green symbols of the regions.
As a result of the voting, the Ginkgo tree was chosen as the Green Symbol of the Perm Territory in memory of the Perm geological period - the cradle of the plant. Although Ginkgo does not grow here today, the tree won 52% of the vote, far ahead of other plants proposed by humans.
Ginkgo is tolerant of all temperatures, however, today the tree can only be found in areas with warm climates. In our country, the pyramidal crown of males and the spreading crown of females, inferior to males in their height, adorn the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus with their unique leaves.
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