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OCTOBER 1999
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The ancester with a thousand vertues Ginkgo biloba " Bai guo ", " living fossil ", " herb of the heart and the lungs ", " tree of fourty pennies ", " tree of chichis ", " salisburia adiantifolia ", as many popular names, as many curative proprieties associated with this honorable herb (150 to 200 million years), that has survived the secondary and tertiary eras. Ginkgo biloba remains to this day the only constituant of the arboricol Ginkgoaceous family. The etymologic root of the word would come from the japanese " Yin-Kuo ", still meaning " golden apricot ". Originating from the East-Orient, particularly from Korea, South-East China and Japan, Ginkgo biloba is now grown in Europe and North America. Ginkgo biloba fascinates with its complexity, its beauty, its renown medical properties and even its possibilities of scientific research. From a historical point of view, it is a german physician named Engelbert Kaempfer that, after having visited Japan, introduced it to the Occident in 1690. In 1712, he described it in one of his publishings under the title Amoenitatum exoticum. But we will need to wait until 1754 for its first agricultural attempt in England. An londonien englishman named Gordon a nursery specialist, was able to make it grow. The latter, offered in 1771, a specimen at Linné who named it Ginkgo biloba.L (a scientific name reconized nowadays), due to the particular morphology of its leaves. Able to grow 40 metres in height, Ginkgo biloba exists in male and female specimens. The oriental universe associates its symbol with the Yin and yang due to its dual nature. Not only does it posess lobed or fan shaped deciduous leaves but also fruits and flowers (those found only on the female specimen). Its small white flowers are grouped like grapes. As for the fruits, named chichis, they are bulb shaped, yellow and their flesh is thick. This flesh covers the seed partly. It's odor is very strong, almost unpleasant. The fruits are also grape liked shaped. Traditionnally, the Orientals grow the tree in sacred gardens. The seeds are offered in weddings (symbolizing fertility). It's seeds may be used in the preparation of food, or to treat several respiratory problems. It is the deciduous and veined leaves that posess the healing vertues that are nowadays associated to Ginkgo biloba. Since 1889, researchers have studied it's chemical composition. Posessing particular substances found in no other vegetable species, it's curative vertues, originating from popular knowledge, were confirmed by the scientific study of it's leaves composition at the beginning of the 1970's. It's leave, containing a mixture of flavonoid glucosides and it's terpine derivatives, notably ginkgolides and bilobalides, are now recognized for their nervous system tonifying properties, their circulatory system decongestant and strenghening properties, as well as a vasoregulating properties of the arteries, veins, brain and heart. Ginkgo biloba has a great impact on several health problems such as a lack of memory, difficulty with concentration, a fall in intellectual faculties, vertigo,ringing ears, headaches, just to name a few. Finally, many clinical research have been done on the standardized extracts of Ginkgo biloba. In 1999, more than 300 studies describe scientifically the benefits of the plant. And, the more recent ones reveal very encouraging results as for Alzheimer's disease. So, this living ancester, rigourously studied nowadays, never cesses to share it's secrets with us. Bibliography : |