GINKGO

Myths and Realities

Ginkgos were already there by the age of dinosaurs. They live to great age, that can exceed 1000 years. For the Japanese, the ginkgo is highly protective. Ginkgo trees are present in their temples where they serve as natural fire defense. They keep the fire from spreading from one building to another in these installations completely built from wood. At Hiroshima, a ginkgo tree at only 800 m from the epicenter survived the nuclear fire. Entirely burnt down in 1945, it came into leaf again by the spring of 1946. Every ginkgo tree is different, recognisable by the shape of its leaves. Quintessenz B created jewels from leaves of trees from Karlsruhe, Paris, Forbach. By autumn ginkgo leaves switch to a superb golden color. Quintessenz B has created a special fire enamel called “40 écus” (40 pieces of gold) to render this color on ginkgo jewels. Indeed french call the ginkgo “arbre aux 40 écus”, both for the color, and a legend that holds that the first ginkgo trees delivered to France cost 40 pieces of gold (an Ecu was the historic piece of gold in use in France). Ginkgo leaves have a special shape and are often split in the middle, so you may doubt if it is one leaf, or two. This inspired a poem to Goethe: