Florida torreya
Torreya taxifolia
One of the most critically endangered conifers in the world: a slow-growing, pyramidal evergreen with stiff, sharp, dark-green needles whose crushed foliage gives off a pungent smell that earned it the name 'stinking cedar.' Torreya taxifolia is native only to a tiny stretch of cool, shaded bluffs and ravines along the Apalachicola River in the Florida panhandle and adjacent Georgia, where a fungal disease (alongside historic land-use and fire changes) collapsed the wild population to a small remnant that mostly resprouts from the base but rarely reaches maturity. In cultivation it is a 30-50 foot specimen at most, shade-tolerant when young and wanting cool, moist, well-drained ravine-like conditions. This is a conservation-collection plant and a botanical curiosity, NOT a mainstream landscape tree; ethically sourced, nursery-propagated, conservation-program material is what matters here, and an active assisted-migration effort (the 'Torreya Guardians') has controversially planted it well north of its native range.
Native: FL, GA
Climate fit: moderate (42/100)
Structure
Focal point
Light
Part shade
Water
Consistent moisture
Mature size
360-600" tall · 240" apart
Hardy in zones
5a-9b
very cold to frosty winters
Native in Illinois
No
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Grown only as a rare conservation-collection and specimen plant; the seeds and foliage are not eaten and it is not a food plant.
Cold hardiness
These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.
Now
Zone 6b
Plotwright
USDA Zone 6b
-5°F to 0°F
Well-suited
Zone 7a
Plotwright
0°F to 5°F
Well-suited
In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.
✓
Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.
Heat tolerance
Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.
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Where this plant fits
Suitable across 41 ecoregions — 39 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today · 1 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.
Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests
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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
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Arizona Mountains forests
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Atlantic coastal pine barrens
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Blue Mountains forests
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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands
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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests
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Central Tallgrass prairie
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Central-Southern Cascades Forests
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Chilean Matorral
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Sources & citations
Cite this page
For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.
Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia). Retrieved 2026, June 24, from https://plotwright.com/plants/torreya-taxifolia
Sources for every fact
Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited - 18 source-backed.
NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
University extension service
Backs 17 fields
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