New branch of science
Botanists at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum know a lot about the 35-foot ginkgo tree near the sprawling park’s Walter Street gate. They know it was rooted and planted by Peter del Tredici, who in 1989, as a Boston University doctoral student, took a four-inch cutting directly from one of the few remaining wild ginkgos in eastern China. They know it is one of 55 ginkgos growing in the Arboretum today. They also know it has the potential to live 1,000 years. But even del Tredici, now a senior research scientist at the Arboretum, doesn’t know everything about the tree. That’s why del Tredici and Arboretum Director William (Ned) Friedman are collaborating with counterparts at the University of Colorado to learn more. Scientists in late June spent three days high off the ground, hoisted by the Arboretum’s bucket truck. Head arborist John Del Rosso and Colorado research associate Jon Leff collected 100 samples of...