Torreya californica

Torrey 1854

Common names

California nutmeg, California torreya, stinking cedar (Peattie 1950).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Torreya myristica Hooker; Tumion californicum (Torrey) Greene (Hils 1993).

Description

"Trees to 20(25) m; trunk to 90(120) cm dbh; crown conic or, in age, round-topped. Branches spreading to slightly drooping; 2-year-old branches reddish brown. Leaves 3-8 cm, abaxial side with 2 deeply impressed, glaucous bands of stomates, flattened on adaxial side, emitting pungent odor when crushed. Pollen cones whitish. Seed (including aril) 2.5-3.5 cm; aril light green streaked with purple. 2n = 16" (Hils 1993).

Range

USA: California. Rare and local along mountain streams, protected slopes, creek bottoms, and moist canyons of the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada, at 0-2000 m elevation (Hils 1993). See also Thompson et al. (1999).

Big tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Arno and Gyer (1973) indicate that it can be found in "draws and basins on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County;" along "the road entering Yosemit Valley from El Portal" (Yosemite National Park); at "the entrance to Boyden Cave in Kings Canyon" (National Park); and "the trail to Crystal Cave and near Clough Cave in Sequoia National Park."

I have only found it in one location so far, on the road towards Giant Forest a few miles beyond the Foothills Visitor Center in Sequoia National Park (36° 32.558' N, 118° 46.912' W). My notes report: "Here I find what is definitely the most prickly conifer I have ever encountered. This is a decent-sized little grove. They're growing amidst evergreen oaks, blue oaks, tanoak, a few small incense-cedars, and an understory with a xeric analogue of ladyfern, shrub oak, and probably poison oak. There's active regeneration, trees and seedlings growing both above and below the highway. Within 100 m of the sample point there are probably 50 stems taller than breast height, the largest being the one that I photographed the bark of, which has a dbh of about 25 cm. These trees are growing on a south- or southeast-facing slope. It seems to be a relatively dry microsite, but the torreyas are on locally concave topography. Slopes are 60-70%. We only find fruits on the largest, sun-grown specimen. Seedlings, of which the smallest I can find are about 15 cm tall, basically look the same as the larger plants except that their needles are shorter, about 1.5-2 cm vs. 4 cm on sun foliage in the mature trees."

Remarks

Citations

See also

Burke (1975).

Lanner (1999).