Wouldn't it be considered even more rare if the tree isn't native to
Oregon...?
Rose
"Rick Toomey" <toomey at museum.state.il.us> wrote in message
news:3A26907D.DB1B6D93 at museum.state.il.us...
> Hello,
>> CorK wrote:
>> > Up till now the City of Ashland has not take any action to try to
> > save the monumental 100 years old Ginkgo that is one of the few old
> > and female Ginkgos in the USA and deserves our respect and protection.
> > It is also a native tree looking at the fossil record in the western
> > part of the US.
>> NO, the fossil record does not support the idea that
> Gingko biloba is a native tree to Oregon.
>> Both Stewart and Rothwell (1993) and Tidwell (1998) note
> that Gingko went extinct in North America during the
> Miocene. The Miocene lasted from 23.8 million to
> 5.3 million years ago. Neither author lists when
> in the Miocene the extinction occurred. However,
> since gingko occurs in the Mascall Formation
> of Oregon, which dates 12-15 million years old
> ( http://www.nps.gov/joda/home.htm ),
> it appears that Late Miocene 11.2-5.3 million years
> ago would be a good bet. The UCMP website
> indicates that Gingkos disappeared from
> North America around seven million years ago
>http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/seedplants/ginkgoales/ginkgofr.html>> So, claiming that Ginkgo is a native to
> the western U.S. is similar to a me deciding
> that I should have a right to go to Ireland
> and be considered a native, simply because I
> had relatives there hundreds of years ago.
> It fails any test of logic.
>> Based on the other groups that were present
> in western North America at the same time,
> horses, rhinos, camels, and elephants
> could be considered native to the area as well.
>> Being extinct in an area for approximately seven
> million years before being re-introduced through
> cultivation means that a species is not a native.
>>>> References
> Stewart WN and Rothwell GW, 1993, Paleobotany
> and the Evolution of Plants. Cambridge:
> cambridge University Press.
>> Tidwell WD, 1998, Common Fossil Plants of
> Western North America. Washington, DC:
> Smithsonian Institution Press.
>>> Rick Toomey
> Illinois State Museum
>toomey at museum.state.il.us
