• St. Louis, Missouri - Missouri Botanical Garden
PHOTOS ABOVE: The earliest Torreya taxifolia acquistion that is still alive onsite (as of December 2023) came from one of the two "plants" received in 1992 from the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina: ID = 1992-0627. The undated photos can be accessed from the Missouri Botanical Garden website here.
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN has online very detailed and complete tabular documentation of all Torreya taxifolia accessions, their current status (alive or dead), provenance, and garden location. This site is sometimes mentioned in historical documents as having played some role in the rooting of wild branchlet cuttings ca 1988-92, although the main actors at that time were Atlanta Botanical Garden and Arnold Arboretum. The full tabular documentation shows no record of having kept any rooted branchlets from that era — likely because nobody thought the plants could survive outside in Missouri at that time. (The 1972 Turnage acquisition is listed as sited in their "Old Climatron" but having been inventoried as "Dead" in 1999.)
The earliest acquistion that is STILL ALIVE onsite came from one of the two "plants" received in 1992 from the Biltmore Estate in NC.
Much later, in 2018, they received from Atlanta Botanical Garden a total of 43 "plants" plus 6 "seedlings." Although the provenance info on the map page for ABG specimens reads, "Provenance: Cultivated (Plant not of a wild source)", these would certainly be offspring of one of the wild-genetics ex situ orchards in n. Georgia (likely Smithgall Woods). All seedlings (2018-0053) were put into the "Greenhouse outdoors" and are listed as dead.
Of the 43 "plants" from ABG in 2018, 26 were put into the "Greenhouse indoors" and all are now listed as "Transferred." Of the remaining 17 plants from ABG listed in various places onsite, 5 are listed as ALIVE. But, of course, the only possible plant at a reproductive age would be the 1992 Biltmore acquisition.
There is an "Images" tab at the top of the acquisitions table. Clicking on it, one accesses a full-height torreya photo of the still-living 1992 Biltmore specimen. The photo is undated but the tree appears to be a dozen feet tall and is thick with healthy leaves.
The "Gardening" tab offers advice:
EXCERPT: Culture: Best grown in moist, rich, well-drained soils in part shade. Tolerates full shade. Do not allow soils to dry out. Thrives in high humidity. Native to USDA Zone 8, but probably winter hardy to Zone 5.... Some mature trees which have been planted outside the native range of this tree have grown well. Trees within the native range are under attack from a fungal blight (perhaps a species of Fusarium) which threatens to drive this tree to extinction. Less than 1% of the historic population of this tree currently survives."
