Tree with a sparse, pyramid-shaped foliage. The most distinctive feature of the Ginkgo tree are its fan-shaped leaves (in adults) and bilobular leaves (young trees) that have dichotomic nervation, a vestige of its remote origins. The flowers are not particularly apparent and the fruit gives off a very bad smell, which is why only male trees are planted.

We know of fossil remains from the Jurassic period, the moment when important evolutionary changes occurred in higher plants and many species disappeared. The Ginkgo is the only species to have survived to the present day and only grows wild in a few forests in Asia.