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California Torreya
Torreya californica
  
9 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About California Torreya (Torreya californica) 9 Nurseries Carry This Plant Torreya californica is species of conifer endemic to California, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is commonly known as California Torreya or California Nutmeg (although not closely related to true nutmeg). It is an evergreen tree growing to 15-25 meter tall, with a trunk diameter of 0.5-1 meter (exceptionally 2 meter); the crown is conical in overall shape, with whorled branches. The leaves are needle-like, stiff, sharp pointed, 3-5 centimeter long and 3 millimeter broad; they are arranged spirally but twisted at the base to lie flat either side of the shoots. The male (pollen) cones are 5-7 millimeter long, grouped in lines along the underside of a shoot. The female (seed) cones are single or grouped 2-5 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 2.5-4 centimeter long surrounded by a fleshy covering, dark green to purple at full maturity in the fall.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Tree

Size
Size
49.2 - 141 ft tall

Dormancy
Dormancy
Evergreen

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Shade, Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Moderate - High

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 9

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Moderately Easy

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast

Soil Description
Soil Description
Prefers moist, fertile soil with good drainage

Common uses
Common uses
Deer Resistant

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
2, 3, 4*, 5*, 6*, 7*, 8, 9, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18, 19, 20*, 21*, 22, 24

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Moist banks, cliffs

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 11.1" - 74.8", Summer Precipitation: 0.21" - 2.03", Coldest Month: 28.2" - 54.1", Hottest Month: 49.8" - 79.3", Humidity: 0.01" - 24.77", Elevation: 7" - 10807"

Alternative Names
Common Names: California Nutmeg


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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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