Torreya californica

Torreya Californica

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Torreya californica

Torreya californica is species of conifer

Pinophyta

The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxon within the Plant. They are Conifer cone-bearing seed plants with Vascular plant tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs....
endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
to California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges

Pacific Coast Ranges

The Pacific Coast Ranges are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the west coast of North America from Alaska south to northern and central Mexico....
and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is commonly known as California Torreya or California Nutmeg (although not closely related to true nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. They are important for two spices derived from the fruit, nutmeg and mace....
).

It is an evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
growing to 15-25 m tall, with a trunk diameter of 0.5-1 m (exceptionally 2 m); the crown is conical in overall shape, with whorled branches.

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Encyclopedia

Torreya californica is species of conifer

Pinophyta

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
to California

California

Pacific Coast Ranges

Nutmeg

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
tree

TREE

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are needle-like, stiff, sharp pointed, 3-5 cm long and 3 mm broad; they are arranged spirally but twisted at the base to lie flat either side of the shoots. The male (pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
) cones

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
are 5-7 mm long, grouped in lines along the underside of a shoot. The female (seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
) cones are single or grouped 2-5 together on a short stem; minute at first, they mature in about 18 months to a drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovary....
-like structure with the single large nut

Nut (fruit)

Nut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seed or fruit of some plant. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts....
-like seed 2.5-4 cm long surrounded by a fleshy covering, dark green to purple at full maturity in the fall.

Uses

The seeds were used by Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
as a food, and the wood for making bows

Bow (weapon)

A bow is a weapon that projects arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow. Essentially, it is a form of Spring . As the bow is drawn, energy is stored in the limbs of the bow and transformed into rapid motion when the string is released, with the string transferring this force to the arrow....
. It is also planted as an ornamental tree.

The wood is sometimes used in making Go

Go (board game)

Go is a strategic board game for two players. It is known as w?iq? in Chinese , or in Japanese, and baduk in Korean language ....
boards, as a cheaper substitute for the prized Kaya wood (Torreya nucifera

Torreya nucifera

Torreya nucifera is a slow-growing Pinophyta tree native to southern Japan and to South Korea's Jeju Island. It is also called or Japanese Nutmeg-yew....
) of Japan and Southeast Asia.