Glossary

Adhesion: two unlike materials being held together by attraction and force; an example would be between water and the xylem cells of a plant as the water is forced through the transport system; can easily be confused with cohesion (look to the right for an example of adhesion and cohesion)


Alzheimer’s disease: a common form of dementia that consists of the degeneration of the brain; some symptoms include memory loss, confusion, disorientation, changes in mood, behavior, and personality, and lack of initiative; most common in elderly population

Antioxidants: a substance that has the ability to donate an electron of its own (without becoming unstable) to stabilize a free radical


Asthma: a respiratory disease that causes wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, and other such symptoms
(picture to the left)


Arteries: blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the tissues or capillaries

Arteriosclerosis: a disease that is most commonly found in the elderly and it causes the arteries to harden

Atherosclerosis: a disease where low density lipoprotein cholesterol and fatty acids build up and cause unwanted clogged blood vessels

ATP: (Adenine triphosphate) a molecule that specializes in energy storage

Capillaries: blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the smaller parts of the body where the arteries cannot reach

Calvin Cycle: a cycle in photosynthesis that is responsible for converting the ATP, NADPH and carbon dioxide into glucose by going through a series of revolutions 

Cohesion: two materials that are similar being held together by attraction or force; an example would be how water can stick to itself as it is being forced through the transport system; can easily be confused with adhesion (see Adhesion for a picture)

Dichotomous veins: veins on a leaf that continuously branch into two equal parts (picture to the left)

Dioecious: (two houses) describes an organism that is either male or female; does not have both reproductive organs in the same organism

Deciduous: describes an organism that drops its leaves (or needles) annually


Dementia: a disease most common in older people that occurs because of damage to the neurons in the brain, causing sever degeneration and impairment

Electron: a negatively charged particle in an atom, located in orbitals rotating around the nucleus

Endotrophic mycorrhizae: a specific type of fungi that can be found on the roots of many plants (specifically the Ginkgo biloba) and that aid in supplying the plant with nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen

Erythrocytes: commonly known as red blood cells; these cells function to carry oxygen to the cells of the body (look right for a picture of two erythrocytes)

Evaporation: when a material changes states from liquid to gas; this can happen in plants when the water on the leaves get changed into water vapor from the sun’s heat

Free Radicals: A molecule that has lost and electron and has become unstable because of it; a free radical will then try to replace its lost electron with one from tissues around it and a vicious cycle occurs

Fan-shaped leaves: leaves in the shape of a rounded triangle, similar to the paper fans some people use to cool themselves

Flagellated Sperm Cells: a specific type of motile sperm that has an extremely slender, whip-like motion used to move the body of the cell; the flagella kind of looks like a string, but does not have the same function

Flavone glycosides (flavonoids): a specific part of Ginkgo biloba extract that that holds the key to many of the medicinal purposes; specifically these components are antioxidants

Fruit: some people refer to the covering on the seed of Ginkgo biloba as a fruit, but the Ginkgo biloba doesn’t have a fruit; it is just an outer casing on the “naked” seed that can resemble a fruit-like body (look to the right for a picture)

Fungal hyphae: a system of thread-like fibers used for fungal growth; they have a cell wall typically made of chitin

Glaucoma: a disease that causes blindness due to damage to the optic nerve

Glomeromycota fungus: a specific phylum of fungi that usually forms a mutualistic symbioses with plants (typically on the roots)

Glucose: a carbon compound that almost all organisms use for nutrition

GEM study: (Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory) a specific study led by Stephan T. DeKosky in which the effects of Ginkgo biloba on Alzheimer’s disease were recorded.

Hepatitis B: a disease that is passed by contaminated blood or other fluids of the body and has serious effects on the liver

Jurassic period: a time period from about 190 million years ago to 135 million years ago when some dinosaurs roamed the Earth (look to the left for a scary surprise!)

Impotence: the inability for a male to maintain an erection during sexual intercourse

Leukocytes: commonly known as white blood cells, these
                        cells function to fight off infections from foreign invaders

Low density lipoprotein: the ‘bad’ type of cholesterol that contains a lot of lipids and proteins

Macular Degeneration: vision loss due to retina degeneration

Motile Sperm: sperm cells that can move; in the case of Ginkgo biloba, the sperm cells have flagellated sperm

Mutualistic symbioses: interactions of two or more organisms where both (all) species benefit from the other(s); an example could be the bacteria living inside your stomach; it helps you digest food and you give it nutrients from the food you eat

NADPH: (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate) a very complex molecule that carries electrons in photosynthesis

Optic nerve: nerve that runs from the back of the eye to the brain

Phloem: a hollow “tube” of cells located in vascular plants that functions in transporting nutrients down the plant (look to the right for a picture that helps show where the phloem is located in a plant stem)

Photosynthesis: the process of making nutrients from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide

Placebo: a sugar pill (that looks exactly the same as the other pill in an experiment) that is given to half the participants in an experiment; the placebo group is important because it is considered the control group and serves to show what would happen if no medication was given

Plasma: the liquid part of the blood

Platelets: the component of blood that causes it to clot

Platelet-activating factors: (PAF) cause clotting in the blood

Sessile: unmoving; rooted to a specific spot; immotile (the Ginkgo tree on the left helps to show how all plants are sessile)

Strap-shaped leaves: thin, elongated leaves protruding from the plant

Terpene lactones (terpenoids): a hydrocarbon that can be found in Ginkgo biloba; this specific structure is mainly used for unclogging unwanted blood clots

Tinnitus: a disease that has the sensation of continuous ringing in one’s ears

Triassic period: a time period from about 230 million years ago to 190 million years ago

Tuberculosis: an infectious disease that usually occurs in the lungs

XX/XY chromosomes: chromosomes that determine the sex of an organism; females have XX chromosomes, males have XY chromosomes

Xylem: a “tube” located in a vascular plant that is in charge of transporting water

Veins: blood vessels that carry oxygen-poor blood back to the lungs and heart

Want to not only gain a bigger vocabulary, but also a bigger fact base about the Ginkgo tree? Visit FABULOUS FACTS for more information.

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