Tree of Merit: Washington Square Park Series
Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Story and photos by Georgia Silvera Seamans,
Washington Square Park Eco Projects Director
W
ith diameters at breast height (DBH) ranging from
15 to 25 inches (38 to 64 cm), and given that the
DBH-to-age conversion rate is 4.0 for the species, we
know that Ginkgo biloba trees in Washington Square
Park are 60-100 years old. Ginkgoes were introduced
in the U.S. in 1784, according to Arnold Arboretum
Senior Research Scientist Emeritus Peter del Tredici.
Botanist and plant collector William Hamilton planted
two trees on his Philadelphia estate and gifted a tree
to John Bartram in 1785; a male ginkgo in Bartram's
Garden is the oldest living tree of its species in the U.S.
The Ginkgo biloba has a long history in New York
City, too. According to the New York Times archives,
a parent plant of the famous ginkgo planted in City
Hall Park in 1929 was brought to the U.S. in 1857.
The City Hall Park ginkgo was renamed the "Walker
Tree" in honor of Mayor James J. Walker, but sadly
this ginkgo died and was cut down in 1937. Another
notable ginkgo in the city is the memorial tree planted
at the General Grant National Memorial in 1897.
Everyday New Yorkers also had experiences with
Ginkgo biloba. New York Times archives show that
the species was included in mid-20th century tree
planting campaigns alongside what they called
"Oriental plane" (syn. London plane tree), Norway
maple, elm, and linden. (Ginkgo was even recom-
mended as an alternative to London plane trees.)
Another significant ginkgo event in the city occurred
in 1956 with the gift of 2500 ginkgo seeds from a
Tokyo-based international friendship group called
Friends of the World, Inc. The seeds were grown out
at the Park [sic] Department nursery on Rikers Island.
Unfortunately, the tree nursery on Rikers Island was
destroyed over the course of two decades, begin-
ning in the 1970s, to expand the prison complex.
38 CityTREES
Ginkgo tree in Washington Square Park
exhibiting synchronous leaf drop.
