# Florida Torreya (Torreya taxifolia)

> A critically endangered evergreen of the yew family from the Apalachicola River bluffs, with glossy, sharp-tipped needles and purple-streaked seed.

Also called stinking cedar, Florida nutmeg, gopherwood, Tumion taxifolium. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-torreya/

![Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia) purple-streaked ripening seeds hanging among glossy, sharp-tipped needles](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/florida-torreya-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Connie Barlow, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATorreya-seeds.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 30 to 50 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 9
- Grows wild in: Rich moist slopes, the forest understory and stream banks
- Native range: Florida and Georgia
- Sun: Part, Shade, Full
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Rare, Evergreen, Tolerates shade, Winter interest, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Florida torreya is an evergreen of the yew family, found wild only in the ravines and bluffs along the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle and at the edge of Georgia. It was once common there. Since the 1950s a fungal canker has killed nearly every wild tree, and the survivors are sprouts from old stumps that die back before they bear seed. It is listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Florida and Georgia also list it as endangered, and NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled. Its stiff needles smell rank when crushed, the source of its old name, stinking cedar. Plant it in a moist, shaded woodland garden far from the Apalachicola River, where a healthy tree helps keep the species alive.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Florida torreya grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It makes a pyramidal tree of 30 to 40 feet with whorled branches, and old planted trees in North Carolina reach about 45 to 50 feet, with crowns up to 40 feet wide. Trees first bear seed at about 20 years.

Male cones and female flowers open in March and April. On female trees the seed takes two seasons to ripen, from August into early November, inside a leathery, purple-streaked green covering 1 to 1.6 inches long. Squirrels and birds take the seed. The stiff, glossy needles are 0.6 to 1.5 inches long and sharp-tipped.

It grows wild only along a 40-mile stretch of the Apalachicola River's east bank in Florida and just into Georgia. Its home is steep, shaded ravines and bluffs over limestone, kept cool and damp by seepage, under beech, southern magnolia, spruce pine and American holly. A decline of 98.5 percent was measured from 1900 to 2000.

## How to grow Florida Torreya

Florida torreya grows in part shade or shade, and in gardens it has also done well in full sun. It wants a moist, well-drained loam or sand rich in organic matter, slightly acid to neutral, and it does not stand flooding. Plant it well away from the Apalachicola River bluffs, so a new tree does not catch the canker there. Plant it 20 feet from a wall and set trees 30 feet apart. Keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant in early spring or early fall, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch a wide ring clear of the trunk. Seed must never dry out, and seed sown straight into an outdoor bed comes up worst. Hold it in damp peat and sand at 55 to 65 degrees F for 3 months, then in the refrigerator for 3 more, and sow it in a pot. Germination varies from year to year, and seedlings grow slowly and damp off easily.

Water weekly through the first two summers and in every long dry spell after that, and keep a mulch of leaves over the roots. Deer rub their antlers on young trees and can break or kill them, so fence or cage young trees. Squirrels carry off the seed, so cover ripening seed with wire mesh if you want to keep it.

Trees are male or female, and only females bear seed, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. The wind carries the pollen. A canker caused by the fungus Fusarium torreyae killed nearly all the wild trees, and fungicides have not saved them. Needle blights, root rot and scale insects also attack it. Saplings and seed are shipped only in state and otherwise pickup only.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Florida torreya, Stalter 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/florida-torreya)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Torreya taxifolia, Esser 1993](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/tortax/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Torreya chapter, Stein](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Torreya.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Torreya taxifolia, Florida Torreya](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.137133/Torreya_taxifolia)
- [US Fish and Wildlife Service, ECOS species report](https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/5391)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 2: Torreya taxifolia](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=220013607)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Torreya taxifolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/torreya-taxifolia/)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Torreya taxifolia](https://www.fnps.org/plant/torreya-taxifolia)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Torreya taxifolia, from New Trees by John Grimshaw and Ross Bayton](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/torreya/torreya-taxifolia/)
- [Forest Pathology, 2020: Detection method for Fusarium torreyae, the canker pathogen of the critically endangered Florida torreya](https://doi.org/10.1111/efp.12597)
- [Aoki and others 2013, Fusarium torreyae sp. nov., a pathogen causing canker disease of Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia), Mycologia](https://doi.org/10.3852/12-262)
- [Georgia Biodiversity Portal: rare plants and protected species tables, exported July 7, 2026](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/table/plants)
- [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Element Tracking Summary, 6/18/2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/tracking/element_tracking_summary_current.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)
- [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for birds: caterpillars, fruit, mast, nests and winter cover, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-birds/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Florida Torreya, add ?species=florida-torreya with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=florida-torreya&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Florida Torreya](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=florida-torreya): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=florida-torreya
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Florida Torreya is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=florida-torreya
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Florida Torreya needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=florida-torreya:3
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Florida Torreya flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.