Gingko biloba

• Also known as the maidenhair tree, Ginkgo biloba is the only existing species in the Ginkgo genus. G. biloba has been a medicinal plant for thousands of years, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some ailments G. biloba might alleviate are Alzheimer's and atherosclerosis. This tree is only native to China. Maidenhair trees grow up to 115 feet when mature. The leaf of the ginkgo tree is fan-shaped and its veins never connect with each other to form a vein network on the leaf.
  
  

Ginkgoaceae

• Ginkgoes are the only species in the entire Ginkgoaceae family. This tree is one of the oldest existing species of tree on Earth, dating back to the Mesozoic era -- approximately 200 million years ago. These trees are dicots, meaning they have two embryonic leaves within each seed. All Ginkgoaceae trees have long and short shoots that serves as branches. While Ginkgo biloba is the only surviving member of the Ginkgoaceae family, this family contains six extinct genera. Paleontologists have discovered fossils of extinct Ginkgoaceae trees such as Ginkgo dissecta and Ginkgo huttonii.
  
  

Gymnosperm

• The Ginkgo biloba tree is a gymnosperm, a member of one of the two major phyla in the Plantae kingdom. The Gymnosperm phylum's history dates back to Earth's Paleozoic Era, approximately 390 million years ago. Gymnosperms store their seeds in cones on the tree branches, in contrast to angiosperms, which store seeds in flowers. Ginkgoes are dioecious, meaning some trees are female and other trees are male. Male ginkgoes have small cones for their seeds, while females have ovules on the end of their stalks. These trees undergo a pollination process to convert the female ovules into seeds.
  
  

Plantae

• Like all of Earth's plant life, ginkgo trees are members of the Plantae kingdom. This kingdom is the second-largest group in the Linnaean classification system with over 250,000 species; only the Arthropoda phylum is larger. The Plantae kingdom first appeared in Earth's Ordovician era, according to the University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Ordovician era was over 450 million years ago. Plants are important to Earth's ecology since their pigment, known as chlorophyll, utilizes sunlight to produce foods such as carbohydrates, sugars and starch.