Ginkgo biloba – ginkgo tree, along Boulder Creek, Boulder, Colorado, June, 2023. An ancient tree, supposedly very similar to its 170 million-year-old ancestors. The tree and its wood are very resistant to insects and diseases, and I remember hearing that it had outlived its enemies, which seems incorrect to me. I came across this specimen while strolling along the Creek near the Boulder Public Library. Though I lived for many years more or less across the street from some ginkgo trees, I have to confess that I never noticed that the leaves grow in bundles like pine needles; the Wikipedia article tentatively classifies them in the division Pinophyta. The leaves themselves show veins, which are somewhat hard to see in this picture, that radiate outward like flattened pine needles.
