Ginkgo
is one of the world’s oldest trees, originating almost two hundred million years
ago. Native to Southeast Asia, the ginkgo is a sacred tree that has been
described as a "living fossil". Individual trees can live for more
than 1000 years. Its use for medicinal
purposes can be traced back to 2800 BC. In the late 17th century a
German physician and botanist named Engelbert Kaempfer became the first European
to discover and catalog the ginkgo tree. In 1771, Linnaeus named the tree
Kinkgo biloba. It is also known as duck foot tree, kew tree, maidenhair tree,
and silver apricot.
In 1784
the ginkgo tree was brought to America as a garden plant. The ginkgo is now
planted throughout much of the U.S. as an ornamental tree, and is one of the
most resistant trees to insects, disease, and pollution. Today the trees are
grown on large plantations in China, France and South Carolina. The trees
produce green to yellow fan-shaped leaves, as well as round fruits approximately
1cm in diameter that contain a single seed. The leaves and fruit are harvested
in the summer and the leaves are used to make herbal remedies. The leaves
are soaked in alcohol and the resulting extract is dried, powdered, and
made into capsules.
Ginkgo Biliboa is the best selling herbal product in the
world. It was introduced into modern practice by a German physician in 1965 and
this physician's preparation (EGb 761) remains the focus of ongoing
ginkgo research. The extract is approved in Germany for the
treatment of dementia and the leaf extracts are now among the leading prescription medicines in
both Germany and France, where they account for 1 and 1.5% respectively, of
total prescription sales.
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