Ginkgo 'Shangri-La' was patented by Willet N. Wandell in 1984. This cultivar was selected for its compact growth, a uniform arrangement of branches forming a full crown, and rapid growth. It is a male cultivar, will not produce the distinctive smelly female Ginkgo fruit, and has the typical outstanding golden yellow fall color common to all Ginkgoes. The Shangri-La Ginkgo will mature to a 55 foot tall by 40 foot wide tree and will work well as a shade or street tree. It is one of the most pollution-tolerant trees and works well in the city. Ginkgo is sometimes called the maidenhair tree due to its beautiful fan shaped leaves that resemble a maidenhair fern frond. The Ginkgo is an ancient deciduous conifer and evidence has been found which shows this tree coexisted with the dinosaurs.