From an evolutionary point of view, it is of interest to note the occurrence of filicinean and cycadean characters in the maidenhair tree.
The maidenhair tree is one of the most interesting survivals from the past; it represents a type which, in the Palaeozoic era, may have been merged into the extinct class Cordaitales.
The living Maidenhair-tree (Ginkgo biloba) (see Gymnosperms) remains, like Matonia and Dipteris, among the ferns, as an isolated relic in the midst of recent vegetation.
