A weird ginkgo tree designated as a national natural monument

These are ginkgo seeds that have been removed from their shells. Ginkgo seeds have a delicate green color that is very appetizing.　

 The ginkgo (Ichō in Japanese) tree is Japan's most common street tree, spectacular in autumn and notorious for its smelly fruit. Its scientific name is Ginkgo biloba L.

It is one of the oldest living tree species in the world. It is also called a living fossil.

The fruit has a very bad odor, but after washing away the smelly pulp with plenty of water, ginkgo nuts appear. There are many ways to eat them, crack open the shells and roast seeds inside in a frying pan, we get a very tasty snack to go with beer.

The ginkgo tree I'm introducing today is a variant one that produces ginkgo fruits integrated with its leaves, unlike the normal variety.  Of course, this type of weird ginkgo fruit occupies only a small portion of all ginkgo fruits produced; most of the ginkgo fruit are formed directly from the tips of short fruiting branches, the same as ordinary ginkgo trees. 

Although more than 20 of these trees have been identified in Japan, only seven, including this ginkgo tree, are designated as a national natural monument.  It was designated a national natural monument on December 17, 1929.

This is the big ginkgo tree that is the thema of this blog. The tree is estimated to be about 200 years old. It grows at the precinct of the temple in Maibara City, Shiga Pref., Japan.　Ginkgo leaves turn a vibrant yellow in autumn, making the tree a beautiful sight.

Ginkgo leaves are fan-shaped and grow in clusters of 3 to 5 on short branches. The ginkgo fruits also grow in clusters on the same short branches as the leaves.

These are ordinary ginkgo fruits that have fallen to the ground. 

You can confirm that a ginkgo fruit also grows on the same short branch as the leaves.

However, if we carefully look for fallen ginkgo fruits, we can find weird ones like this.　

These ginkgo fruits look underdeveloped; they are small and either elongated-oval or slender in shape, differing significantly from typical ginkgo fruits.

The number of ginkgo fruits that develop on the leaf edge can range from 5 to 8, but generally it is 1 to 2. 

This is what it looks like when it is growing on the tree. It might be a bit hard to see, but the ginkgo fruits are growing attached to the leaves.

This is a comparison of ginkgo nuts. The one on the left is a normal ginkgo nut, while the one on the right was taken from a weird ginkgo fruit.

As I mentioned earlier, ripe ginkgo fruits that have fallen to the ground are extremely smelly, and if you accidentally step on one, your shoes will smell terrible.

However, if you wash the smelly fruit pulp in running water, ginkgo nuts appear. Usually, they are sun-dried for 2-3 days for preservation. When eat, crack open the shells, boil seeds inside briefly and peel off thin seed skins. You can use the seed in a variety of dishes. Ginkgo seeds have a delicate green color that is very appetizing.