Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 12/02) - Losing your mind? Your memory? Can't figure out where you left your keys? Perhaps you've misplaced your wallet. Or maybe you've forgotten a phone number you could once recite on demand.

Say hello to ginkgo biloba (GINGK-go bi-LO-ba). Once you become acquainted with its properties, you may become a tree hugger...or, rather, a tree eater.

First, a little history lesson. In 1859, Darwin himself called the ginkgo a living fossil. In fact, research shows that a type of ginkgo pre-existed dinosaurs. Apparently, 65 million years ago, only one species remained. Eventually, scientists came to believe that the ginkgo had met extinction head on. It did -- by surviving in Japan. It was rediscovered in 1691. The seeds were then taken to Europe and America. Eleventh century Chinese literature praises the tree, as does the 19th century German poet, scientist, botanist and philosopher Goethe in a poem dedicated to his mistress.

Ginkgo's first recorded medical use dates back to 2800 BC -- for blood circulation and the lungs.

Paul Laserich will tell you the tree's survival suits him just fine.

When Dan O'Neill opened Sundance Health, Laserich asked for ginkgo. He'd heard about it in the States.

"It clears the mind," says Laserich. "I don't know how to describe it."

Laserich then recites a list of phone numbers -- every hotel in Yellowknife. He then proceeds to list every time he's ever met me. Considering I have no recollection of meeting him, ever, I'm impressed.

"It bothers my friends. I've taken it for quite a few years now and I have a memory like an elephant," he says.

O'Neill, who owns the health store that sells all sorts of herbal concoctions, says ginkgo is one of his top sellers.

Does it work? Does it work? Huh? Huh?

"Yes," he says. "It works. It increases peripheral blood flow and circulation, and oxygenates the brain."

Students buy it before exams. Seniors buy it when they start losing their keys.

"Memory," says O'Neill, "is one of people's biggest problems. That comes from not exercising, and having bad circulation and bad blood flow.