🚀 go-pugleaf

Wouldn't it be considered even more rare if the tree isn't native to
Oregon...?
Rose

"Rick Toomey" <toomey@museum.state.il.us> wrote in message
news:3A26907D.DB1B6D93@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@museum.state.il.us