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Torreya
EntityQ429944· pop 30· linked from 122 articles

Torreya is a genus of conifers comprising six or seven species placed in the family Taxaceae, though sometimes formerly placed in Cephalotaxaceae. Four species are native to eastern Asia; the other two are native to North America. They are small to medium-sized evergreen trees reaching 5–20 m, rarely 25 m, tall. Common names include nutmeg yew.

Species

Genus

  1. PhylumTracheophyta
  2. ClassPinopsida
  3. OrderCupressales
  4. FamilyTaxaceae
Native toFlorida, Georgia

General: Torreya taxifolia is rated as Critically Endangered (CR Common Name: Florida torreya

via · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records
114
With media
46
Family
Taxaceae
Collections
UCMP, NY, US, UOMNH, MO, UF
Recorded in
United States, China, Turkey

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Taxaceae
Named after
John Torrey
Image
Torreya-californica.JPG
Show 8 more facts
start time
45000000-0
taxonomic type
Torreya taxifolia
Commons category
Torreya
taxon rank
genus
taxon name
Torreya
topic's main category
Category:Torreya
taxon common name
榧树属
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Fossil record
  • Adaptive growth forms of this subcanopy genus
  • Species
  • References

Torreya is a genus of conifers comprising six or seven species placed in the family Taxaceae, though sometimes formerly placed in Cephalotaxaceae. Four species are native to eastern Asia; the other two are native to North America. They are small to medium-sized evergreen trees reaching 5–20 m, rarely 25 m, tall. Common names include nutmeg yew.

The genus is one example of the Arcto-Tertiary Geoflora in paleoecology. The pattern of highly disjunct distribution of geographic ranges of the species within such a genus spans temperate plant zones of continents in the Northern Hemisphere. This geographic pattern is attributed to genus origins in much warmer times of the Tertiary Period, when zones of temperate climate were found in poleward latitudes whereby land connections facilitated range expansions and migrations of plants between Asia and North America and sometimes between Europe and North America.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Torreya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (12)