Ginkgo

Ginkgo biloba

Also: Maidenhair tree, Gingko

CoolingNeutral moistureRelaxing

Sends blood to the brain and out to the far edges of the body.

An ancient tree with fan-shaped, two-lobed leaves that turn butter-yellow in autumn and fall almost all at once. Ginkgo leaf extract widens small blood vessels, keeps blood flowing freely, and shields nerve cells from oxidative damage, improving circulation to the brain, eyes, ears, hands, and feet; herbalists also give it for ringing ears and dizziness that come from poor circulation.

Energetics: Slightly cooling, neutral, relaxing
Taste: Bitter, faintly astringent
Family: Ginkgoaceae (ginkgo family)
Parts used: Leaf, as standardized extract

Medicinal uses 2

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Focus & brain fogTLC
Improves circulation in the brain and protects nerve cells; in trials, standardized extract steadied memory, thinking, and daily function in mild dementia.
Cold hands & feetTLC
Widens small vessels and improves circulation to cold hands and feet.

Preparations

Standardized leaf extract, taken daily for several months.

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Cautions

Slows blood clotting. Leave it out alongside blood thinners, and stop two weeks before surgery or birth.
Use the leaf extract only. The seeds contain a toxin that can cause seizures, especially in children, and the fruit pulp can raise a rash like poison ivy.
Quality extracts remove most of the ginkgolic acids, which can cause allergic reactions.
Seizures have been reported in people with epilepsy; check with your neurologist first.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

Ginkgo slows clotting, a real risk at delivery, and its pregnancy safety has not been established. The seeds stimulate the uterus and are toxic.

BreastfeedingAvoid

Its effect on clotting and the lack of nursing data keep it out of breastfeeding.

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Folklore

Ginkgo is the last living species of a lineage that reaches back more than 200 million years, and fossil leaves from the age of dinosaurs look almost exactly like the ones on city streets today. It survived only in a few mountain valleys of China and in the gardens of Buddhist temples, where monks kept it for centuries. In 1815 Goethe sent a love poem with two ginkgo leaves attached, asking whether the split leaf was one being or two. Several ginkgos within a mile or two of the Hiroshima blast in 1945 survived and still grow.

How to grow

An extremely hardy, long-lived tree that shrugs off city smog, poor soil, and pests. Trees are male or female, and females drop fleshy seeds that smell of rancid butter, so plant a named male variety. Gather leaves green in summer for extracts; in autumn they turn gold and fall within days.

In the wild

Effectively extinct in the wild. Possible wild stands survive in the Tianmu Mountains of Zhejiang and in the mountains of southwest China, and nearly every other ginkgo descends from planted trees.

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