Ginkgoes are gymnosperm trees in the genus Ginkgo, which is the only surviving member of the division Ginkgophyta. They first appear in the fossil record 170 million years ago, during the Aalenian age of the middle Jurassic period. While the genus is still extant, it severely declined in diversity after the Cretaceous period ended, and by the end of the Holocene age there was one surviving species, Ginkgo biloba. It is indigenous to southwestern China around the Tibetan Plateau, but has been cultivated across the country and is now grown around the world. This last survivor of an ancient lineage is considered an endangered species in the wild.
