However, such a scenario is difficult if not impossible to evaluate scientifically. In short shoots, internodes are very short, in contrast to long-internode long shoots. Ginkgo biloba is deciduous. Leaves develop on both long shoots and short shoots although the shape of leaves varies somewhat between long and short shoots. In living Ginkgo, leaf shape is highly variable.
Ovules continue to develop and fertilization takes place after ovules fall to the ground.
This is superficially similar to integument differentiation in Medullosa, which we also speculated might have been animal dispersed. Because of the similarity of Ginkgo biloba fruits to the fleshy fruit of conifers like Torreya, Ginkgo was originally assigned to the conifer family Taxaceae. However, subsequent character analysis has not supported this relationship. Most analyses show modern Ginkgo as a lone survivor of a lineage represented mostly by fossil plants. Ginkgo biloba is dioecious , meaning that individual trees produce only ovules or microsporangiate strobili.