Ginkgo biloba is the last surviving member of an order that was widespread before the dinosaurs, which is why the tree is called a living fossil. It is also, conveniently, close to indestructible in cities, so the fan-shaped leaf is now as familiar on a London pavement as it is in the fossil record.
Maidenhair uses the leaf as a unit and nothing more. There is no branch, no trunk, no botanical structure, only the fans, scattered at close intervals across the ground in a loose all-over arrangement. The watercolour handling keeps them soft-edged and slightly translucent, so leaves overlap without either one dominating, and the effect is of light coming through a canopy rather than of leaves lying on a surface.
At that density it functions as a semi-plain. From across a room there is no legible pattern, only a fine dappled texture; from close to, the individual leaf is perfectly clear. That makes it one of the more useful papers in the range, able to hold a whole room, to sit behind pictures, or to line a small space that wants interest without incident. It is also a good companion to a stronger design, holding the adjoining rooms while the pattern is carried elsewhere.
