ABSTRACT
It is amazing that the Ginkgo tree, Ginkgo biloba L., the last remaining member of the Ginkgoaceae family has suddenly engaged the interest of Western medicine. Worldwide use of Ginkgo leaf extracts is reported to be on the rise in view of the reported beneficial effects of the Ginkgo as an antiasthmatic and on the circulatory system (Schilcher, 1988). Is it more appropriate to say that Western medicine has at last considered the medicinal properties of Ginkgo biloba whose fruits and seeds have been valued in China for their medicinal properties for the last several hundred years? Though the leaves of Ginkgo biloba were sparsely used, in comparison to the fruits and seeds, in ancient medicines in the East, the Western medicine as practiced extensively in Europe uses the leaves.
