Important medicinal plants from the family• Ginkgo biloba L. (Chinese maidenhair tree), used for its memory-improving properties.
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Family: Ginkgoaceae 0 entry
• Ginkgoaceae family - general characters
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From: Families yielding important phytopharmaceuticals in Fundamentals of Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, by Michael Heinrich, J. Barnes, S. Gibbons, and E. Williamson, October 2003, ISBN:0443071322, pp.320 -- www.fleshandbones.com/readingroom/pdf/747.pdf
This is one of the most ancient families of the seedbearing plants and had been widely distributed during the Mesozoic (180 million years ago). Only one species survives today.
Important medicinal plants from the family
• Ginkgo biloba L. (Chinese maidenhair tree), used for its
memory-improving properties.
Morphological characteristics of the family
(Fig. 4.18)
The characteristic fan-shaped leaves, which often have an indention at the apex,
are well known. The tree does not bear fruit but has a pseudo-fruit, with the
outer part of the seed (testa) developing into a fleshy cover, which has a
strong unpleasant smell of butyric acid and a hard inner part. Fertilization is
not by pollen but by means of microspermatozoids, a characteristic of less
well-advanced plants. Another typical aspect is the separation of the deposition
of the microspermatozoids on the gametophytes and fertilization (the unification
of macro and microspermatozoid). Thus the seeds found on the ground during the
autumn are not yet fertilized, but will be during the winter.
Distribution
Ginkgo biloba is native to a small region in south-eastern Asia and
is now widely planted in many temperate regions of the world.
Chemical characteristics of the family
The most important and a unique group of natural products are the
ginkgolides (Fig. 4.19), which are unusual two-ringed diterpenoids with three
lactone functions. Biflavonoids and glycosylated flavonoids are other groups of
typical natural products.
Entry format: Botanical name / Family / Ref. Burmese-Myanmar
transcripts (• Agri.Dept.2000 :
• Chklist: • LSR : • FAO : • KS-TMN:
• Nagathein :
• UHM :/ Myanmar-Script Spelling (•
Official Myanmar Dictionaries : - TravPo-M-Dict - Myan-Engl-Dict - Myan-Ortho
/ Hindi /
Sanskrit / English common name used in Myanmar / Picture /
Plant identification characters / Distribution in Myanmar / Part
used and uses / Constituents /
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