Ginkgo biloba 'Tubifolia' is a unique cultivar of Ginkgo whose small leaves are curled, some tightly enough to resemble small trumpets or tubes. The fall color is the traditional golden yellow on a broadly spreading small tree or large shrub that 'drops' all at once in Fall. Resistant to most insects, diseases, air pollution and restricted root runs, it is an ideal tree for urban landscapes. It prefers climates with hot summers and cool to cold winters. Not tolerant of late spring frosts because there are no reserve vegetative buds - they all leaf out the same time. When a late spring frost destroys these buds and leaves it can take until mid-summer before the tree has had time to produce new ones. A 'living fossil', the fossil record contains imprints of Ginkgo leaves dating back to the early Juraissic Period - well before flowering plants evolved. Today, the closest living relatives are cycads, which share the rare plant characteristic of producing motile sperm. Once widespread around the World, as climates changed the southern hemisphere populations died out and the northern hemisphere populations shrank to a very small area of China. Adapted to disturbed environments along streams on moderately fertile soils in the wild. Scientist 'think' they have finally found two wild populations but at least one of them has very low genetic diversity which suggests these trees are naturalized decendents from trees planted a couple of thousand years ago. For the last 1,500 years or so, it has been grown in Asian temple gardens. It continues to be cultivated in Chinese fruit orchards for the prized 'silver apricot' fruit that is roasted once the very smelly, soft outer covering is removed. European and American gardens prefer the seedless male cultivars.