To the untrained eye, the Ginkgo biloba tree in the industrial area here looks like any other green
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To experts, however, it is a relic. The earliest leaf fossil of a Ginkgo biloba has its roots in a once-thriving and dominant race of vegetation. The tree is often referred to as a precious link between the present and a little-known past.
The family tree of the Ginkgo biloba — there are only two specimens in this region — can be traced back to 270 million years, before the Jurassic age, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The tree here is more than a century old and as botanists say, it is still “going strong”.
“This tree is the only living representative of the order Ginkgoales, a group of gymnosperms composed of the family Ginkgoaceae of the Triassic period, the era that preceded the Jurassic period. So we can safely say that the tree already existed when dinosaurs walked the planet,” reader of botany of Kalimpong College Ram B. Bhujel said.
“During the Triassic period, the tree was flourishing all over the globe but in the Jurassic age the Ginkgoales order and its family of Ginkgoaceae plants started declining to the extent that it almost became extinct,” he added. “There are very few Ginkgo biloba trees left in the world today and most of the live specimens are found in Japan and China. As far as I know, there are only two such trees in the region. One in Darjeeling and the one in the industrial area where a park is being built.”
The botanist said no one knew how the tree arrived in the region or who planted it. A good guess, however, he said, would be that the British might have planted it when they ruled the country.
“What is sad, however, is that the tree cannot reproduce naturally because the climatic conditions are not suitable for its regeneration,” said Bhujel.
But there is some good news. Nurseries here, trying to grow saplings from cuttings of the parent tree, have met with reasonable success and the prehistoric tree has also been grown on the college campus.
“This species of tree is considered a living fossil and is also highly valued as an ornamental plant. Collectors of plants are ready to pay large amounts of money to procure saplings,” said Bhujel. “Leaves of this species of tree is used by Chinese as a herbal medicine in treating respiratory problems.”
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Speaking of the value of the Ginkgo biloba as an ornamental plant, Chandra Rumba, a nursery proprietor from Kalimpong, said: “We have succeeded in culturing saplings from cuttings of branches of the tree at the industrial area. We cannot exactly say what the age of the tree is but it is more than 100 years old and in very healthy condition. Sadly, the saplings grown in the nursery are not as healthy as the parent plant, and only 25 per cent of the plants survive.”(Telegraphindia.com)
