
Manual of the Southeastern Flora - Small
Copyright - UNC Press 1998, 1999. All Rights Reserved.
1. TUMION Baf. Trees. Leaves rigid. Staminate ament with 4 pollen-sacs under each scale. Ovulate ament usually with 2 ovules. Seed baccate, the pericarp fleshy. [Torreya Arn.] - Besides the following, there are three other species, one in California and two in eastern Asia.
1. 1. T. taxifolium (Arn.) Greene. Tree becoming 18 m. tall, with a disagreeable odor when bruised: leaf blades linear, 1.5-3 cm. long, firm-tipped: staminate ament 5-8 mm. long: seed globose-ellipsoid or somewhat obovoid, 3-4 cm long, glaucous. [Torreya taxifolia Arn.] - (STINKING-CEDAR. TORREYA ) - Bluffs and woods along the Apalachicola River, and tributary streams, Fla. and adj. Ga. - Spr. - Limited in distribution, but often plentiful where it grows. The wood is durable, and many of the better specimens have been destroyed for making fence-posts. The seeds are a favorite food of wild rodents. The heartwood is pale-yellow.