Crossword Genius

Spirit and energy required to maintain Kew's top tree (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gingko

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'tree' is the definition.
(gingko is a kind of tree)

'spirit and energy required to maintain kew's top' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'spirit' could be 'gin' (alcoholic spirit) and 'gin' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for gingko that I've seen is " Chinese tree".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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