Herbalism 101 : Ginkgo Leaf Harvesting

It's Ginkgo season! The leaves of the Ginkgo tree fall all at once, making for a beautiful harvest for some great brain-boosting tea.

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Fun Fact

"The ginkgo family has been around since before the dinosaurs, and its only remaining member, Ginkgo biloba, is a living fossil, basically unchanged in two hundred million years." https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/night-ginkgo

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Health Benefits

• Ginkgo is commonly used for improved brain functions and for enhancing memory.
• Ginkgo can be taken as a tea or tincture.

"It has the ability to increase blood flow to the brain, especially in the elderly, decrease platelet aggregation and prevent strokes and other diseases related to emboli. It has been successfully used for migraines due to its ability to stabilize platelets and serotonin levels in the brown, thereby normalizing blood flow." - Herbal Medicine by Dr. Sharol Marie Tilgner

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Harvesting

The leaves in the photos are yellow. Some folks harvest the leaves when they are green, some folks harvest the leaves when they are matured and yellow. On mountainroseherbs.com they speak about the benefits of yellow leaves, saying: "Some herbal traditions recommend the use of leaves that are harvested at this later point in the season, when the medicinal properties of the plant are believed to be at their strongest."

Their odorous nuts are healthy too, if you can find a female variety that produces them.

This information presented on this blog is for educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.