Ginkgo Biloba

The ancient maidenhair tree of China, whose fan-shaped leaves homoeopaths associate with memory, concentration and circulation.

Ginkgo biloba, the maidenhair tree, is the last surviving member of a lineage of trees more than 290 million years old, and is often called a living fossil. Native to China, it is planted around the world for its fan-shaped leaves, which turn golden yellow in autumn. Some trees are known to have lived for well over a thousand years.

Ginkgo leaf is best known in herbal practice, and homoeopathy has taken it up as a mother tincture. Homoeopaths associate it with poor memory and concentration, mental tiredness, giddiness and ringing in the ears, and with cold hands and feet from poor circulation, especially in older people.

• Memory and concentration
• Mental tiredness
• Ringing in the ears
• Cold hands and feet