We were very kindly sent some Torreya californica seeds by Don Thomas of the California Native Plant Society a few months ago, and today I took the seeds out of their cold stratification in the fridge to plant out. They should’ve come out a few weeks ago, but I have been having trouble concentrating lately due to very troubling world affairs…
Don sourced the seeds from the Santa Cruz mountains, and they are… ginormous as the post title states. In the photo below we have compared them to average sized New Zealand sourced Torreya californica seeds (the largest NZ sized seeds probably come close to the smallest Santa Cruz mountains sourced seed). I have no idea how much of the size difference is caused by genetic versus environmental differences, and unfortunately it will take decades to be able to tell. For now we hope to get as many of these sprouted as possible, and then get these trees planted more commonly around New Zealand.
Thanks once again to Don for his help and kindness!
