310 



A MANUAL OP THE CONIFERS. 



same peculiar distribution as the Sequoias and their nearest relatives. 

 The genus Torreya was founded upon a tree discovered about thirty- 

 five years ago (now forty), in northern Florida. It is a noble Yew- 

 like tree, and very local, being known only for a few miles along the 

 shores of a single river. Another species of Torreya is a characteristic 

 tree of Japan, and the same, or one nearly like it, inhabits the Himalayas. 

 There is only one more species of Torreya, and that is a companion 

 of the Redwoods of California ; it is a tree locally known under 

 the name of the Califomian Nutmeg. Moreover, the Torreya of 

 Florida has growing with it a Yew tree, and the trees of that grove 

 are the only Yew trees of eastern America, for the Yew of our northern 

 woods is .only a decumbent shrub. The only other Yew trees in 

 America grow with the Eedwoods and the other Torreya in California. 

 A Yew tree equally accompanies the Torreyas of Japan and the Hima- 

 layas, and these are apparently the same as the common Yew of 

 Europe. So we have three groups of trees of the great Coniferous 

 Order which agree in this peculiar geographical distribution ; the Eed- 

 woods and their relatives, which differ widely enough to be termed a 

 different genus in each region ; the Torreyas, more nearly akin, merely 

 a different species ; the Yews, probably all of the same species. * 



Torreya, named after Dr. John Torrey, "The Nestor of American 

 Botany," originator and author of portion of the valuable work, 

 Flora of North America. 



* Dr. Asa Gray, Address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1872. 



t Idem. 



