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<i>Ginkgo biloba</i> is a dioecious heterophyllous tree species with two leaf types. Short shoots always bear many leaves, which are undivided or slightly bilobed, but long-shoot leaves are smaller and are deeply divided into two or more lobes. To clarify the functional difference between the two leaf types, we investigated the morphology, anatomy, gas exchange, and hydraulic traits of the two leaf types in male and female trees. Our results showed that long-shoot leaves possessed a lower specific leaf area (<i>SLA</i>), higher leaf thickness, gas exchange rates, and average tracheid number than short-shoot leaves. When compared to short-shoot leaves, long-shoot leaves in male trees had higher leaf hydraulic conductance (<i>K</i>_leaf) and leaf water potential of 50% loss in <i>K</i>_leaf (leaf <i>P50</i>), while female trees exhibited relatively higher <i>K</i>_leaf. When comparing sexual differences, male trees possessed higher leaf thickness, leaf dissection index, vein density (<i>VD</i>), and predawn leaf water potential and lower <i>SLA</i>, tracheid number, and midday leaf water potential, while no significant difference in leaf <i>P50</i> was observed between the two sexes. Male trees exhibited greater leaf gas exchange rates, which were tightly associated with other functional traits, such as <i>VD</i> and <i>K</i>_leaf. We found strong shoot-based and sex-related heterogeneities in the leaf hydrology, anatomy, and economy of <i>Ginkgo biloba</i>. Moreover, male ginkgoes may perform better due to their greater leaf hydraulic efficiency and gas exchange rates.