The University of New Hampshire in Durham has about a dozen Ginkgo trees growing on its campus.
For more than 40 years, students have placed their bets, guessing when the leaves on the specimen outside James Hall will let loose. The winner receives a free pizza.
Tradition has it that if you catch a Ginkgo leaf as it floats to earth, you'll have good luck.
A few years ago, Serita Frey, a soil microbiologist and a professor at the university, became curious about whether there was data documenting the ginkgo-dump day over the years:
" I found a piece of paper with handwriting on it that some secretary back in 1977 started, and that someone from the department had been adding to every year,” she said. “I put all that information in a spreadsheet, and I’ve been updating that graph every year since.”
The graph revealed that the Ginkgo-dump day had been sliding forward over the ensuing decades. Every decade, the Ginkgo tree loses its leaves an average of three days later than it had 10 years prior. When the James Hall Ginkgo dumped its leaves this Thursday, November 9, it was the second-latest that the tree had ever hit the autumn milestone."
The Atlantic had a nice story about it – where this quote come from. You should read it right here.
Video: The great Ginkgo leaf dump is here:
Video by Breaking News Politics on YouTube.
Photos: UNH
On my website:
Ginkgo rain: leaves all fall at the same time.
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