Living Fossil, the Ginko biloba

This Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba) is the oldest documented in America, located at Bartram’s Garden. This tree was given as a gift to the Bartrams from William Hamilton, a botanist and neighbor.  Hamilton built the Woodlands estate, like Bartram’s Garden, along the banks of the Schuylkill. Hamilton introduced the Ginkgo to North America in 1785 and had a male and a female on his property; the trees are no longer standing today.  (More on ginkgos, here: http://ginkgopages.blogspot.com/2013/07/wissinoming-park-ginkgo-philadelphia.html )

–adapted from:
Historic American Landmarks Survey record by Joseph Elliott, 2002