[HN Gopher] Immortal by Default: A brief history of humans and t...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Immortal by Default: A brief history of humans and the ginkgo tree
        
       Author : Vigier
       Score  : 49 points
       Date   : 2022-10-22 22:43 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.laphamsquarterly.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.laphamsquarterly.org)
        
       | otikik wrote:
       | I don't know how accurate the source was, but I have heard that
       | people use the dried leaves to prepare a tea-like infusion as
       | well as to smoke them.
        
       | tetraca wrote:
       | These are the worst. My campus had them lining the boulevard, and
       | every autumn the air would reek like vomit.
        
       | melony wrote:
       | This explains so much why Ginkgo Bioworks is named what it is.
        
         | abemiller wrote:
         | Because it's immortal?
        
           | melony wrote:
           | Pretty much, anti-aging is the rage right now.
        
       | jhoechtl wrote:
       | The original content https://www.science.org/content/article/how-
       | ginkgo-biloba-ac...
       | 
       | > The leaves of the tree did not undergo comparable
       | medicalization.
       | 
       | The leaves were never part of TCM. That's an invention of western
       | money makers.
        
         | JohnJamesRambo wrote:
         | Do you have a reference for that assertion? Googling and the
         | wiki doesn't seem to support that idea.
         | 
         | >Although it is the seed that features most prominently in the
         | Chinese materia medica, both oral tradition and written sources
         | indicate that the medicinal properties of the gingko's leaves
         | have been utilized just as early and extensively. One
         | indication is the fact that before the seeds were discovered by
         | the imperial kitchen, the gingko's main name-Duck Feet Tree-was
         | fashioned after the leaves. Furthermore, regional herb usage in
         | Sichuan, Zhejiang, Guangxi, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning and other
         | gingko rich provinces documents that the gingko leaf has been
         | used as a folk herb for a long time. And most importantly, the
         | gingko leaf received a formal entry in the official materia
         | medica commissioned by the Imperial Academy of Medicine almost
         | 500 years ago.
         | 
         | from https://classicalchinesemedicine.org/ginkgo-cultural-
         | backgro...
        
       | zasdffaa wrote:
       | FYI the seeds are bloody revolting to eat. Caveat Nibbler, I
       | suppose.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-10-24 23:00 UTC)