Ginkgo Biloba

A natural history

Ginkgo is a living fossil, the lone survivor of a plant family that flourished when dinosaurs walked, and it has stayed recognizably the same for something on the order of two hundred million years. Native to China, it has been planted for centuries in the courtyards of temples and monasteries, where a few specimens are believed to be more than a thousand years old. Its fan shaped leaves, split down the middle, are unlike those of any other tree.

Chinese medicine recorded the tree early, using first the seeds and later the leaves; the great sixteenth century compendium of Li Shizhen lists many preparations, including pastes spread on chapped hands and rough skin. Ginkgo's toughness is the stuff of legend. Several ginkgo trees stood close to the center of the Hiroshima blast in 1945, and rather than dying they put out fresh buds the following spring. They still grow today, counted among the city's revered survivor trees.

What it does for your skin

Ginkgo leaves are dense with protective flavonoids. In laboratory and animal studies, a standardized ginkgo leaf extract applied to skin reduced markers of ultraviolet driven oxidative stress and inflammation, which suggests it may help defend the look of skin against environmental strain.^[1] A small preliminary trial of a ginkgo leaf cream reported visibly improved firmness and a smoother look over two weeks, which the authors describe as early evidence.^[2] In a formula it works as an antioxidant botanical that supports a resilient, refreshed look.

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