page_title: Torreya taxifolia
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Torreya taxifolia / Description
caption_attribution_description: ri.cix. Teu' Leut'cd Torrei-u . ' 'Jlyrrnyi 'u /J /a'//, y tilf.
context_page_description: Torreya taxifolia, commonly known as the stinking-cedar or Florida torreya, but also sometimes as gopher wood or Florida nutmeg, is an endangered tree of the yew family, Taxaceae, found in the Southeastern United States, at the state border region of northern Florida and southwestern Georgia.
  T. taxifolia became one of the first federally listed endangered plant species in the United States in 1984; the IUCN has listed the species as critically endangered since 1998. In 2010 98% of the mature trees of the species were believed to have been destroyed due to a poorly understood fungal blight as well as inundation due to dams and destruction by deer using trees as antler rubbing posts.
context_section_description: Torreya taxifolia is an evergreen tree that may reach heights of 18 metres (59 ft) with an 80 centimetres (31 in) diameter trunk, although it typically grew to 9–12 metres (30–39 ft) tall and 30–50 centimetres (12–20 in) in diameter, and most stands today are composed of immature trees of less than 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall. The crown is open and conical in overall shape, with whorled branches. These branches are spreading to slightly drooping. The bark of two-year old branches are coloured yellowish-green, yellowish-brown or grey. The young branchlets divide into threes.
  The stiff, needle-like leaves are sharp to the touch, 1.5–3.8 centimetres (0.59–1.50 in) long and 3 mm broad. These are arranged in two ranks on the branches and are coloured glossy green above and light green below, with a very slightly sunken grayish stripe of stomata on either side of the midrib on the underside, and slightly round in transverse profile on the topside. The leaves have an unpleasant, strongly pungent, resinous odor when crushed.
  It is dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The male (pollen) cones resemble those of a common yew, but are much larger and have imbricated scales (bracts) at their base. They are 5–7 mm long, grouped in lines along the underside of a shoot. The female (seed) cones are single or grouped two to five together on a short stem; minute at first, they mature in about 18 months to a drupe-like structure with the single large nut-like seed surrounded by a fleshy covering called an aril, 2.5–3.5 centimetres (0.98–1.38 in) long including aril, about the size of a nutmeg. The aril is glaucous and coloured dark green and streaked with purple at full maturity in the fall. Unlike true yews, in which the aril forms a "cup" around the seed, in this plant the aril completely encloses the seed, leaving only a minute perforation at the end. The aril is fleshy in consistency, like a fruit. When the aril is removed, the seed bears a striking resemblance to a large acorn.
caption: Plate from Nuttall's The North American sylva, published 1849. It is captioned: "A branch of the male plant, natural size. a. Male amentum. b. Back view of one of the stamens magnified. c. Female ament and ovule, magnified. d. Section of the ripe seed. e. Germinating seed."[17]
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