Ginkgo biloba

Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo or gingko (both pronounced /ˈɡɪŋkoʊ/), also known as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years. Native to China, the tree is widely cultivated, and was cultivated early in human history. It has various uses in traditional medicine and as a source of food. The genus name Ginkgo is regarded as a misspelling of the Japanese gin kyo, 'silver apricot', which is derived from the Chinese 銀杏 used in Chinese herbalism literature such as Shaoxing Bencao (紹興本草) and Compendium of Materia Medica. Engelbert Kaempfer first introduced the spelling ginkgo in his book Amoenitatum Exoticarum. It is considered that he may have misspelled 'Ginkjo' as 'Ginkgo'. This misspelling was included by Carl Linnaeus in his book Mantissa plantarum II and has become the name of the tree's genus.