Ginkgo The Oldest Tree on Earth
“Ginkgo, The Living Fossil”
Ginkgo (Temple Tree), which lives up to 2500 years and is the oldest tree in the world, is a tree that has survived until today and symbolizes eternity and immortality, which has no other species or similar. Native to China, Ginkgo is a living fossil. Extreme examples of the durability of Ginkgos were observed in Hiroshima. Four Ginkgo trees located within 1-2 kilometers from the place of the explosion of the atomic bomb are the only living beings coming out alive from the explosion and still surviving in that area. It is a tree species that is resistant to harsh climatic conditions and tree diseases caused by plants and pests.
Gingko fossils from the Permian Period (270 million years ago) can easily be associated with today’s ginkgos. We are talking about a tree living side by side with dinosaurs here. The Ginkgo tree is an idiosyncratic species, so botanists could not associate it with any categories and created a special division for it named Ginkgophyta. Ginkgo Biloba is the only species within this division.
The ginkgo tree grows up to 40 m in height. It is also known as “temple tree, Chinese fan pine, and elephant ear tree.” Ginkgo was first introduced to the botanical world in 1960. It is also known that it was planted in Ihlamur Pavilion in Istanbul and naturally grew until the year 1905.
Benefits of Ginkgo Tree
The leaves are used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It is also used for diseases related to cerebral blood flow. Memory loss, dizziness, and writing disability are among these diseases. It can also be used in the treatment of some pains. It was used in the treatment of asthma and bronchitis in the 26th century BC. Taking a role in the cosmetics field too, roasted Maidenhair tree seeds are used for culinary purposes in China and Japan.
Surviving until today owing to its durability, the Maidenhair tree is resistant to toxic gasses and air pollution and has maintained this resistance against several toxic gasses, atmospheric pollution, and even salt during the incidents in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It is acknowledged as a sacred tree in Buddhism. I think it is worth worshipping… 🙂
What about a great book recommendation after this whole tree talk?
“The Secret Life of Plants” Peter Tompkins/Christopher Bird
Cleve Backster, the famous polygraph expert in the United States, had another sleepless night in the school where he teaches the use of polygraphs to security guards in the year 1966.
Then, just for fun, he attached the electrodes of the polygraph to his tropical plant with huge leaves. He thought that if the polygraph measured the electrical changes of the emotions such as fear, joy, and surprise, so maybe the plant would be happy when watered, and laughed sarcastically.
The galvanometer moved downwards by drawing zigzag lines when he watered the plant.
But Backster was expecting a movement upwards. He could not receive the reaction he expected when he put its leave inside hot coffee. Then, everything changed when he thought of taking the match and burning the plant. The plant caused the galvanometer’s needle to peak madly. Backster could not believe it. “What?” said he within. “Did the plant just read my thoughts?”
A new world was about to open before the history of humanity. Experiments came one after another. It was revealed that plants not only read thoughts but also feel everything around them. It turns out they feel the death of the shrimps thrown into boiling water and the pain of a pinprick. They even feel the joy and sadness felt miles and miles away. They even faint from fear.
One day, all plants became quiet when a female botanist arrived from another city. None of them gave a reaction. It was almost like all of them fell into silence. Plants started to react again 45 minutes after that botanist got on the plane and left. Learning that the botanist perform measurements by defoliating the plants, Backster understood that the plants fainted from fear upon seeing that botanist.
He designed an experiment. He appointed his six assistants with different tasks to be performed at the same hours on the same night. One of the tasks was coming to the laboratory in the middle of the night and uprooting and dismembering the plants. When the assistant performing the dismembering procedure that night came inside on the following day, all plants started to cry out ravingly (that is how Backster described the peaking of the galvanometer’s needle).
It was understood from that experiment that plants not only feel but they also have memories. Moreover, witnessings of the plants started to be taken in some of the judicial cases in the United States. Plants never produced false results because they do not know the meaning of the word lie.
When these studies started to be published as articles, scientists from all over the world started working on this subject. The results are unbelievable.
A plucked leaf can stay alive for many more months compared to a normal leaf if it is spoken with nice words. It can feel pain or joy from 120 km.
It can read the thoughts of people and commit those doing wrong to the memory. It can also share this information with other plants.
A mistreated plant even commits suicide from sorrow.
It shares its own water with the next one dehydrating.
Plants have a sensitivity beyond our imagination in communicating with all living creatures. Each of them is a part of nature. Maybe one day, if we can have the opportunity to understand them better, they may even tell us their whole experiences during the course of history. These studies and the obtained results are also the source of inspiration for the Avatar movie.
Let us know that all plants feel mistreatment against any plant anywhere in the world.
And then I am the wood-lover when I say I love trees…I think trees love me, too.
