With Ginkgo Indiana returned to the hard-edge style, mirrored ginkgo leaf design that he had begun experimenting with in 1957, inspired by the leaves on the trees he saw in Jeannette Park. The painting also illustrates Indiana's interest in wordplay—the "go" of "ginkgo" is incorporated into the text encircling the design: "Go from Coenties Slip / Thence to Vinalhaven," which references the location of his first studio, Coenties Slip, and the location of the studio where he moved in 1978 and would remain until his death, Vinalhaven. The painting is similar in format and size to the artist's 1965 painting Leaves, which also both incorporates botannical forms and is a play on words, the plant leaves referencing that Indiana was leaving Coenties Slip and moving into a studio on Spring Street.
The artist returned to the ginkgo form again six years later, with his The Ginkgo Ài series.