Torreya nucifera
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 Torreya nucifera foliage
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| Torreya nucifera (L.) Siebold & Zucc. |
Torreya nucifera (Kaya or Japanese Nutmeg-yew) is a slow-growing coniferous tree native to southern Japan.
It grows to 15-25 m tall with a trunk up to 1.5 m diameter. The leaves are evergreen, needle-like, 2-3 cm long and 3 mm broad, with a sharply spined tip and two whitish stomatal bands on the underside; they are spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie horizontally either side of the stem. It is subdioecious, with individual trees producing either mostly male or mostly female cones but usually with at least some cones of the other sex present. The male cones are globular, 5-6 mm diameter, in a double row along the underside of a shoot. The female cones are borne in clusters of 3-8 together, maturing in 18-20 months to a single seed surrounded by a fleshy layer, 2 cm long and 1.5 cm broad.
[edit] Uses
Its wood is prized for the construction of Go boards because of its yellow-gold colour, ring texture, and the sonic quality of the click of a stone on its surface. Shin-kaya, imitation kaya, is usually Alaskan White Spruce and has become somewhat popular for cheaper equipment due to the scarcity of Kaya trees.
The seeds are edible, and also pressed for their vegetable oil content.
[edit] References
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Torreya nucifera. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
