ginkgo biloba

     

The Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba; in Chinese '銀杏', pinyin romanization, yín xìng), frequently misspelle as "Gingko", and also known as the Maidenhair Tree after Adiantum, is a unique tree with no close living relatives. The ginkgo is classified in its own division, the Ginkgophyta, comprising the single class Ginkgoopsida, order Ginkgoales, family Ginkgoaceae, genus Ginkgo and is the only extant species within this group. It is one of the best-known examples of a living fossil, because Ginkgoales are not known from the fossil record after the Pliocene.[verification needed]