A Jurassic wood providing insights into the earliest step in Ginkgo wood evolution

The isolated wood specimen PB22285 from the 153–165 Ma Tiaojishan Formation of western Liaoning was described as Ginkgoxylon liaoningense from a suite of wood-anatomical characters, providing a well-dated Middle–Late Jurassic Ginkgo-like wood record without establishing the first appearance of Ginkgophyta or an association with a particular leaf species.

Ginkgoxylon liaoningense is used as a Ginkgo-like wood exemplar within Ginkgophyta context; it is not assigned as a direct ancestor of Ginkgo biloba.

PB22285 comes from the Tiaojishan Formation of western Liaoning and does not establish the full Jurassic or phylum-wide distribution.

Wood anatomy supports a terrestrial woody growth form, while precise habitat, physiology and community role are inferred rather than observed.

PB22285 preserves a suite of secondary-xylem characters used to diagnose Ginkgoxylon liaoningense.

Ginkgophyta is displayed at 165–0 Ma only as a dated Ginkgoxylon-sample-to-living navigation anthology: the 153–165 Ma wood specimen is not the phylum FAD, an unbroken species lineage or a direct ancestor of living Ginkgo.