“Nature’s Time Capsule: The Ancient Survivor That Outlasted Dinosaurs and Hiroshima”

Ginkgo biloba, recognized as one of the most ancient tree varieties originating from East Asia, is frequently referred to as a “living fossil.” It is known to have weathered countless environmental transformations and even survived the nuclear catastrophe in Hiroshima, Japan.

The ancestry of Ginkgo biloba extends back over 290 million years to the Permian epoch, even preceding the age of dinosaurs, while its unique fan-shaped foliage has remained nearly unchanged through the ages, Forbes revealed.

‘Little Boy’

When the atomic bomb, referred to as ‘Little Boy’, detonated over Hiroshima, temperatures surged to as high as 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit within the initial three seconds, reaching up to two miles from ground zero.

While all individuals within the explosion’s reach perished instantly and vast sections of the city turned to cinders, the six Ginkgo biloba trees located approximately a mile from the blast’s epicenter remarkably survived the explosion.

Although their leaves were stripped and they were charred due to the detonation, it required only a few months for the trees to regenerate.

The report by Forbes has labeled these trees as “living testaments to resilience, evolution, and endurance”.

No alterations in Ginkgo biloba

Fossils from the Jurassic era have illustrated Ginkgos’ evolutionary constancy, as their leaves appear identical to those observed in contemporary times.

Ginkgo biloba species flourished across the northern supercontinent of Laurasia for millions of years until the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event eradicated the dinosaurs along with the plant and animal life that coexisted with them. During this period, numerous species fell victim to this mass extinction, yet Ginkgos somehow persevered.

Nonetheless, its prevalence decreased over time as various flowering species emerged and diversified.

Interestingly, this species was believed to have gone extinct in the wild until the early 20th century when a small population was rediscovered in isolated regions of China.

In the Zhongnan Mountains of China, a Ginkgo tree over 1,400 years old stands near the Gu Guanyin Buddhist Temple, with its golden leaves blanketing the ground each autumn.

How they endured

According to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January 2020, Ginkgo biloba shows no evident signs of senescence, the biological aging process that ultimately leads to death. This indicates that even trees that are 600 years old maintain the same immune responses as their youthful counterparts.