Arnold Arboretum to host botanical symposium on ginkgo biloba

A living fossil with an ancestry dating back some 270 million years, Ginkgo biloba stands out in the plant world as an object of fascination. A deciduous gymnosperm that persists as a single genus and species, ginkgo offers scientists a unique glimpse at our botanical and evolutionary past. To celebrate this relict species and explore its botanical importance and relevance in our time, three eminent ginkgo researchers will share their expertise as part of a full-day symposium—Ginkgo Fest—at the Arnold Arboretum on Saturday, April 20.

Sir Peter Crane, dean of forestry and environmental science at Yale; William “Ned” Friedman, Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, and director of the Arnold Arboretum; and Peter Del Tredici, senior research scientist at the Arnold Arboretum and ginkgo specialist, will lecture on their combined 50 years of ginkgo investigations and lead a tour of the Arboretum’s ginkgo collection. The program will spotlight the history, culture, biology, and conservation of ginkgo, and include displays of artifacts and illustrations from the Arboretum Archives, examples of ginkgo bonsai created by Peter Del Tredici, and more.