| General Description | This dwarf variety of deciduous conifer can be either a large shrub or a small tree that has brown – tan corky fissured bark and deeply lobed fan shaped leaves that have a variegated striped pattern. It produces green nut fruit on female plants which smells terrible and leaves which are born on mounding buds which build up over the years. Leaves turn a lemon yellow in autumn and drop rapidly. |
| ID Characteristic | Leaves are unmistakable fan shaped with deep round lobes versus the non-cultivar plain ginkgo. Variegation is subtle but adds a noticeable green and yellow alternating pattern that resembles a zebra’s hide parallel to the veins. Buds are alternating and mounded growing taller out of the same part of stem each year creating a knob effect. The bark is fissured and has a rubbery-cork texture when touched. |
| Shape | Forms a dense to medium branched shrub with a columnar shape.
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| Landscape | Anny’s Zebra Ginkgo tree can be used in the landscape as a specimen tree due to its unique foliage and can become a handsome shrub in smaller gardens where a regular ginkgo would prove to massive due to its compact columnar shape and relative ease of growing and resistance to pests and stressors. Another use for this cultivar is container growing as it is a much smaller and slow growing breed it can be grown in a large pot although it will reduce the overall height by half. Another potential use for this cultivar is bonsai as it could be more easily trained than the faster growing full size ginkgo and would make a conversation piece due to its lobed, striped foliage. |
| Propagation | The first method to propagate a ginkgo tree is by rooting a cutting from a grown tree during summer to root in the fall. This can be done by pruning off with sterile tools a 15-18 cm piece of stem that is partially woody or still herbaceous and dipping it into a rooting hormone to accelerate root growth. After it can be planted into damp, wet soil and watered daily until the roots develop in 1-2 months. The second and easiest way would be to germinate a seedling from a ripe seed. This can be accomplished by gathering mature seeds in the fall from the trees and washing them in warm water and remove the outermost coat and then stored in a cold, dry space. They will germinate better if scarified to simulate being eaten by animals by scraping the surface with a knife or roughing it with sandpaper and/or stratified by placing it in a refrigerator or cold cellar then sow into a sandy potting soil about 1-2 cm deep. Germination should occur and seedlings should be misted or watered lightly but the soils shouldn’t dry out completely. |
| Cultivation | It will do best in full, strong sunlight with good drainage, sandy soil that is fertile. Can tolerate a soil pH of 5.0-8.0. Will tolerate extreme cold weather and pollution in urban environments without showing stress. It can also tolerate moderate levels of salt in the soil that would affect many other trees. Does well in heat and alkalinity. |
| Pests | No notable pests or diseases. |
| Notable Specimens | The Ginkgo tree at the Hannah House, Fredrick, Maryland, United States. It is one of the oldest and largest Maidenhair trees in north America with a height of 28 m and an equally large spread with a girth of 4 m. |
| Habitat | Horticultural origin. |
| Bark/Stem Description | Young stems are glabrous, with new growth taking on a green-yellow colour and later maturing to a light brown-grey bark that slightly exfoliates with a rubbery cork feel when touched. In older stems the bark turns darker grey with vertical fissures which turn into deep furrows and ridges on older trees with irregular plating pattern. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Buds are alternate, spurring, mounding in the same spot every year to create a projecting, raised buds that bear 3-5 leaves out of a single bud and also male pollen cones and female ovules. The bud is imbricate and can grow up to 8 cm long on older branches. The buds are the same colour as the stem with a green colour on young stems turning into a light grey-brown. |
| Leaf Description | The leaves are fan-shaped, dichotomous pattern of veins, with two veins on the petiole dividing into two veins at the outer margin of the leaf. The margins are deeply lobed but very narrow, almost dissected with a finger shape to them. The leaves are larger than a regular Ginkgo’s at 7 – 11 cm wide and 5 – 7 cm long. The colour is bright green with alternating yellow veins creating a striped effect. The petiole is 7 – 11 cm long. Glossy and glabrous appearance. Autumn colour is lemon yellow. |
| Flower Description | The tree is dioecious, female and male flowers are found on completely different and separate trees. The flowers of a male tree bear a resemblance to catkins and are termed pollen cones. They are green and are born out of the leaf buds in clusters at the base in a star formation below the leaves. They grow to 2 – 3 cm long. The female flower is originates from a pedicle 4 – 5 cm long bearing a round green ovule by itself or in pairs and has a droplet at the end to catch the pollen. |
| Fruit Description | Female trees will produce orange-yellow fruits similar in shape to a cherry or drupe that grows to 2-3 cm in diameter. It is not a true fruit but a large seed that has a disgusting smelling outer skin that is the gametophyte and the inner seed is beige-white in colour and almond shaped. |
| Colour Description | Leaves are a glossy green with subtle hints of yellow striping when viewed up close. The leaves turn a lemon yellow in the fall |
| Texture Description | Medium Texture. |