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Taxaceae
Torreya

not marked as a favorite taxon Torreya Arnott. Common name: Torreya, Stinking Cedar.

The genus consists of 7 species, trees, of temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere – 1 in FL and adjacent GA, 1 in CA, 1 in Japan, and 4 in c. and s. China and adjacent Burma (Price 1990a; Zhou, Harris, & Xiang 2022). Zhou, Harris, & Xiang (2022) studied the phylogeography of Torreya; our southeastern North American species is sister to Californian Torreya californica, which together form a clade sister to a clade of the 5 Asian species.

The placement of Torreya in Taxaceae or Cephalotaxaceae has been uncertain and controversial; Ji et al. (2021) more definitively place Torreya in Taxaceae, and estimate the divergence time of Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae at ca. 164 MY.

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References: Hils (1993) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (1993b); Page In Kramer & Green (1990); Zhou, Harris, & Xiang (2022). Show full citations.

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image #1 of Torreya© Alan Cressler: Torreya taxifolia, Decatur County, Georgia 2 by Alan Cressler | Torreya taxifolia source | Original Image ⭷
image #2 of Torreya© Alan Cressler: Torreya taxifolia, Decatur County, Georgia 1 by Alan Cressler | Torreya taxifolia source | Original Image ⭷

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