Ginkgo biloba in the context of "Eudicots"

Ginkgo is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and Ginkgo is now the only living genus within the order. The rate of evolution within the genus has been slow, and almost all its species had become extinct by the end of the Pliocene. The sole surviving species, Ginkgo biloba, is found in the wild only in China, but is cultivated around the world. The relationships between ginkgos and other groups of plants are not fully resolved.

The sarcotesta is a fleshy seedcoat, a type of testa. Examples of seeds with a sarcotesta are pomegranate, ginkgo and some cycad seeds. The sarcotesta of pomegranate seeds consists of epidermal cells derived from the integument, and there are no arils on these seeds.

The terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, are a class of naturally occurring organic chemicals derived from the 5-carbon compound isoprene and its derivatives called terpenes, diterpenes, etc. While sometimes used interchangeably with "terpenes", terpenoids contain additional functional groups, usually containing oxygen. When combined with the hydrocarbon terpenes, terpenoids comprise about 80,000 compounds. They are the largest class of plant secondary metabolites, representing about 60% of known natural products. Many terpenoids have substantial pharmacological bioactivity and are therefore of interest to medicinal chemists.

Plant terpenoids are used for their aromatic qualities and play a role in traditional herbal remedies. Terpenoids contribute to the scent of eucalyptus, the flavors of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, the yellow color in sunflowers, and the red color in tomatoes. Well-known terpenoids include citral, menthol, camphor, salvinorin A in the plant Salvia divinorum, ginkgolide and bilobalide found in Ginkgo biloba and the cannabinoids found in cannabis. The provitamin beta carotene is a terpene derivative called a carotenoid.

The Ginkgoaceae are a family of gymnosperms which appeared during the Mesozoic Era, of which the only extant representative is Ginkgo biloba, which is for this reason sometimes regarded as a living fossil. Formerly, however, there were several other genera, and forests of ginkgo existed. Because leaves can take such diverse forms within a single species, these are a poor measure of diversity, although differing structures of wood point to the existence of diverse ginkgo forests in ancient times.

The Shinpen Kamakurashi (新編鎌倉志, - Newly Edited Guide to Kamakura) is an Edo period compendium of topographic, geographic and demographic data concerning the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and its vicinities. Consisting of eight volumes and commissioned in 1685 by Tokugawa Mitsukuni to three vassals, it contains for example information about "Kamakura's Seven Entrances", "Kamakura's Ten Bridges" and "Kamakura's Ten Wells". It includes illustrations, maps, and information about temples, ruins and place names etymologies not only about Kamakura, but also about Enoshima, Shichirigahama, Hayama and Kanazawa. The book created and popularized many of these "numbered" names, which were picked up by many subsequent tourist guides and became part of Kamakura's image. Each volume contains a day's worth of walking and is a real and effective guide to sightseeing. This makes the book a precious source of information to historians.

It is also the source of at least one Kamakura canard: it is often written that Kugyō, the Buddhist monk who in 1219 assassinated his uncle and shōgun Minamoto no Sanetomo, on the night of the murder was hiding behind the great ginkgo tree next to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's senior shrine, but the Azuma Kagami, our main historic source on the event, simply says he came "from the side of the stone stairs" (石段の際). The detail of the ginkgo tree first appears in the Shinpen Kamakurashi.

Jinfo Shan (Golden Buddha Mountain, Jinfoshan, Chin Shan, Jinfushan, Chin fu shan, chin fo shan, Chinese: 金佛山), the highest peak of Dalou Mountains, located in the upper reach of the Yangtze River, is situated in Nanchuan District, the Municipality of Chongqing. Jinfo Shan is an isolated mountain with cliffs up to 300 m surrounding its relatively flat top. Its major vegetation types include subtropical broadleaf forest, coniferous forests and subalpine meadow. Besides typical karst topography of gorges, stone forests and cave systems, Jinfo Shan is well known for its exceptional plant diversity of 4768 seed plants. The area may also be home to some of the few naturally occurring populations of Ginkgo biloba. It is also a refuge to endangered animals confined to karst regions such as Francois' Langur (Trachypithecus francoisi). With its outstanding karst features and superb biodiversity, Jinfo Shan was listed as a tentative World Heritage Site in 2001, and in 2014, the site was added as an extension to the South China Karst World Heritage Site.

Agaricomycotina is one of three subdivisions of the Basidiomycota (fungi bearing spores on basidia), and represents many fungi which form macroscopic fruiting bodies. Agaricomycotina contains over 30,000 species, divided into three classes: Tremellomycetes, Dacrymycetes, and Agaricomycetes. Around 98% of the species are in the class Agaricomycetes, including all the agarics (gilled mushrooms), bracket fungi, clavarioid fungi, corticioid fungi, and gasteroid fungi. Tremellomycetes contains many basidiomycete yeasts and some conspicuous jelly fungi. Dacrymycetes contains a further group of jelly fungi. These taxa are founded on molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, and supersede earlier morphology-based classifications. Agaricomycotina contains nearly one third of all described species of fungi.

The class Bartheletiomycetes contains a single anomalous species of basidiomycete which grows on fallen leaves of Ginkgo biloba. Some researchers suggest that this class should be included in Agaricomycotina.