Preliminary exploration of the plant culture of <italic>Torreya grandis</italic> in China

Abstract

The conifer Torreya grandis is endemic to China and is a rare esculent species in the family Taxaceae. The plant culture of Torreya includes classification,food and medicine,landscape gardening,forestry,and related literature. The species was originally recorded on bamboo strips during the reign of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. All the identifying features of the species have been described since the Ming Dynasty. The species was described scientifically in 1857. Torreya seeds have been used in herbal medicine since the Eastern Han Dynasty. More information on the potency of the species has been revealed since then. The use of the esculent torreya nut can be traced back to the middle of the Tang Dynasty. The cultivated variety,Chinese Torreya(T. grandis cv. Merrillii),was successfully cultivated by grafting. The West Zhejiang and South Anhui provinces are regarded as the origin of this variety. The selection of this species for landscape gardening began in the Western Han Dynasty. The conifer has even been planted in the Luoyang region,far from its natural source region in the Tang Dynasty. The use of the species in forestry can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. Its use reached its peak during the late Ming and the early Qing Dynasty in the Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. The appreciation of this species was encouraged by Su Shi,which led to Chinese torreya becoming fashionable during the Song Dynasty. Many poems were created about the conifer at this time.