Of all coniferous trees this (Salisburia adiantifolia) is undoubtedly the one which, from its general appearance, has the least resemblance to any other member of the tribe. Yet, although totally devoid of resinous secretions, entirely and regularly deciduous, and although its leaves possess none of the characters peculiar to either Pines or Firs, it certainly is a coniferous plant; an examination of its flowers, and especially of its fruit, and their comparison with the same organs of the common Yew, will show that it belongs to the same tribe. However, so great is its difference from all other coniferous trees, that its affinity to them would hardly be suspected on superficial inspection, and it is also remarkable on account of the singularity of its foliage, which seems to unite the Coniferae with the Corylaceae. It is the Ginkgo biloba of Linnaeus, and also of Kaempfer, who first discovered it in Japan in 1690. It is also the name under which it was introduced into England about 1754, when Ellis, writing to Linnaeus in that year, mentions that Gordon had plants of it.

The name of Salisburia adiantifolia, by which it is best known to botanists, was not given to it by Smith until 1796, and is the result of an alteration of the generic name as first given by Kaempfer and ratified by Linnaeus, who, in his "Metissa," published in 1771, noticed it for the first time under the name of Ginkgo biloba - Ginkgo being its aboriginal name in Japan, from which country it is generally given as a native, as well as from China. But M. Siebold, who resided in Japan for a period of seven years, states that the inhabitants of that country do not consider the tree as indigenous there, but as having been brought at a remote period from China. Bunge, who accompanied a Russian mission to Pekin, also states that he saw there an immense Ginkgo tree of prodigious height and vigour, and whose trunk measured nearly 40 feet in circumference. The popular name in this country of the Maiden-hair Tree is appropriate, inasmuch as its leaves resemble in form the pinnules of the native Maiden-hair Fern (Adiantum Capillusveneris); they are of the same yellowish green color and texture on both sides, and through their smoothness and the numerous parallel lines with which they are marked they resemble those of a monocotyledonous plant.

They are somewhat triangular or fan-shaped, wedge-shaped at the base, borne on stalks as long as the disc and disposed alternately.

This is a sufficient explanation of the popular name under which it is generally known in this country. An excellent anecdote, in relation to the peculiar name of "Arbre aux quarante ecus," under which the tree is known in France, and the way in which it was introduced there, is given in Loudon's "Arboretum," and runs thus: "In 1780 a Parisian amateur, named Petigny, made a voyage to London in order to see its principal gardens, and among the number of those which he visited was that of a commercial gardener who possessed five young plants of Ginkgo biloba, which was still rare in England, and which the gardener pretended he alone possessed. These five plants were raised from nuts which he had received from Japan, and he set a high price on them. However, after an abundant dejeuner and plenty of wine, he sold to M. Petigny these young plants of Ginkgo, all growing in the same pot, for twenty-five guineas, which the Parisian amateur paid immediately, and lost no time in taking away his valuable acquisition.

Next morning, the effect of the wine being dissipated, the English gardener sought out his customer and offered him twenty-five guineas for one of the plants which he had sold the day before.. This, however, was refused by M. Petigny, who carried the plants to France, and as each of them had cost him about 120 francs or forty crowns, this was the origin of the name of 'Arbre aux quarante ecus,' which to this day has been applied to this tree in France, where almost all the Ginkgo trees have been propagated from the five which were thus imported by M. Petigny; he gave one to the Jardin des Plantes, where for many years it was kept in a pot and preserved through the winter in the greenhouse until 1792, when it was planted out by M. Andre Thouin, who gave the above relation in one of his lectures".

From that excellent book, Veitch's "Manual of the Coniferae," we also gather that "it is one of the most remarkable and distinct deciduous trees that adorns the parks and gardens of Great Britain. Its light and airy aspect, its peculiar foliage, and the imposing dimensions it attains render it also one of the most picturesque of trees." On account of the dioecious character of the Ginkgo its fruits are not at all common in this country. The first which flowered in England was a male plant at Kew, as far back as 1795, and the first tree bearing female flowers was discovered by De Candolle in 1814 at Bourdigny, near Geneva. After that discovery being made by M. De Candolle, cuttings of the female plants were distributed by him from the Botanic Garden of Geneva, to the different botanical gardens of Europe. But in England, where it has been largely distributed, it has been extensively propagated from the stool in the establishment of Messrs. Loddiges, late of Hackney, and which was a male specimen, which accounts for the greater number of large trees growing in this country being staminiferous or male.

The male catkins, which appear generally in May with the leaves, are produced on the wood of the preceding year and on old spurs; they are sessile, about 1 1/2 inches long, and of a yellowish color. The female flowers, which are produced in pairs and borne on long foot-stalks, possess this peculiarity, that each of them is in part enclosed in a sort of cup produced by the dilation of the summit of the peduncle. Both forms require in our climate to attain a considerable age before they produce flowers. In China and Japan this remarkable tree is cultivated for the sake of its fruit, which in Kaempfer's time formed part of every entertainment and was much esteemed.

The Maiden-hair tree has produced several varieties, all of which appear to have originated on the Continent. Thus, Ginkgo biloba macrophylla, a variety found at Avignon about 1850, has much larger leaves than the species, being nearly semicircular, and often measuring from 5 inches to 6 inches in diameter. The variety, pendula, has its terminal branchlets pendulous, but this character is no addition to the beauty of the normal form; and in the variety, variegata, the leaves are striped with a pale yellow and indistinct color, which does not render the plant any more valuable than the common form. A deep and naturally moist soil is one in which the Maiden-hair tree thrives most luxuriantly, and where it grows from 70 feet to 100 feet high. - S. in Garden.