Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0022569, Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:48:03 +0300

Subject
Ginkgo biloba
Date
Body
N'est vert, n'est vert, n'est vert. L'arbre aux quarante ecus d'or, at least in the fall. Never, never shall I hear again her 'botanical' voice fall at biloba, 'sorry, my Latin is showing.' Ginkgo, gingko, ink, inkog. Known also as Salisbury's adiantofolia, Ada's infolio, poor Salisburia... (Ada: 1.41)

A ginkgo tree and Paulownia imperialis (a tree that grows in Ardis Park: 1.6) are also mentioned in Konstantin Leontiev's "Исповедь мужа" (Confessions of a Husband, 1867):

От него я узнал, что большие розовые цветы, которые здесь летом в таком множестве распускаются по необработанным холмам, называются Cistus taurica; "это, говорит, с чёрными косточками - Melia Azederach, а это дерево хвойное из Японии: Salisburia Adiantifolia или Gincko biloba; сразу совсем и не похоже на хвойное, а оно хвойное." (the entry of Nov. 10, 1853)

In Leontiev's book (part diary, part epistolary novel; the action takes place in the Crimea during the war of 1853-56) there is also stained glass of various colors.

Alexey Sklyarenko

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