the Ginkgo, or Maiden-bair tree: A genus of plants belonging to the natural order of Palme. The calyx of the male is monophyllous, the corolla monopetalous; with six stamens. It is a native of Japan, where it is also known by the names of Ginan and Ifso. It rises with a long, erect, thick and branched stem, to the size of a walnut-tree. The bark... bark is ash-coloured, the wood brittle and smooth, the pith soft and fungous. The leaves are large, expanded from a narrow bottom into the figure of a maiden-hair leaf, unequally parted, streaked, without fibres or nerves; both surfaces having the same appearance, and supported upon footstalks, which are compressed upon the upper surface, and extended into the substance of the leaf. From the uppermost shoots hang the flowers in long catkins that are filled with the fertilizing powder; and to which succeeds the fruit, adhering to a thick fleshy pedicle, which proceeds from the bottom of the leaves. This fruit is either exactly or nearly round, and of the appearance and size of a damask plum. The substance surrounding the fruit is fleshy, juicy, white, very harsh, and adheres so firmly to the inclosed nut, as not to be separated from it, except by putrefaction. The nut, properly termed Gineau, resembles the pistachia nut, especially a Persian species named berges pistai; but is almost double in size, and of the figure of an apricot stone. The shell is somewhat white, woody, and brittle; and incloses a white loofe kernel, having the sweetness of an almond, along with a degree of harshness. These kernels taken after dinner are said to promote digestion, and to give relief in surfeits; whence they never fail to make part of the desert in great feasts and anniversary entertainments.—Many of these plants have been reared by Mr James Gordon at his nursery near Mile-end. They seem to be very hardy, and thrive in this country in the open air.