Ginkgo biloba forms are usually grouped with and normally taken to belong with the Conifer family but they botanically are not . These deciduous plants with their distinct leaf shape and stunning buttercup yellow autumn displays are very worthy garden specimens . Being from the era of the dinosaurs and known as living fossils they have evolved into a group that has very few , if any , insect , disease or other natural predators . They tolerate smog and survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War Two . Planted in average well drained soil they will outlive their owners by hundreds of years . Described by Darwin as the plant worlds Platypus because of its uniqueness and it lately has become the alternate medicines field , billion dollar new wonder drug , time will tell , perhaps ! but probably not . The following selections are the cultivars we try to produce annually ;