The Ginkgo of Jardín de Monforte

This ginkgo has survived every conflict Valencia has been through since the mid-19th century simply by belonging to a species built to survive almost anything. Ginkgo biloba is often described as a living fossil, its lineage traceable back some 250 million years, largely unchanged, and famous for its ability to resist fire, disease and pollution better than almost any other large tree. This particular specimen grows in the Jardín de Monforte, a roughly 12,000 square metre neoclassical garden the Marquis of San Juan built from an orchard he bought in 1849, filling it with marble statues, fountains and specimen trees over the following decades. Declared a National Artistic Garden in 1941, it remains the last 19th century historical-artistic garden intact in Valencia, and this ginkgo, planted not long after the garden's founding, is described by the city as the best known of its kind in Valencia. A second, younger female ginkgo grows nearby in the same garden.