Rewilding Torreya taxifolia
Status of Rewilding Project
March 5, 2008 / by Lee Barnes / Distribution of Fall 2007 seeds donated by Biltmore Gardens
EMAIL SENT TO ALL FRIENDS OF TORREYA GUARDIANS
Subject: 2008 Torreya Guardians Seed Distribution
Dear Torreya Guardians,
We are pleased to again offer packets of Torreya taxifolia (Florida Stinking Cedar) seed from the 2007 seed harvest at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. We thank Bill Alexander and his staff for collecting and sharing seeds for this grassroots distribution project. We are releasing 20 packets, each with 5 male and 5 female seeds to allow for better pollination. We are first offering seeds to the 2006 Distribution volunteers since most of them experienced low germination rates from refrigerator stored seeds. Seeds are currently being stored under natural temperatures but should be requested as soon as possible due to my recovery from hip surgery in mid-March.
Thanks to Connie Barlow for her detailed notes taken during her site visit in December 2007 to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Ron Determann's generous sharing of their highly successful germination procedures is available from our website http://www.torreyaguardians.org/propagate.html. Connie also has provided additional photographs and additional information on rooting cuttings, as well as, more info on site selection, shading and need for periodic liming. I will provide copies of this information with each mailing.
Key to successful germination is cold stratification to duplicate nature's cycles in ground beds that get the full range of daily temperature cycles (freeze/thaw) vs. constant 40-45 degree F. temperature storage in a refrigerator. The seeds to be distributed have only been partially stratified so you will need to plant them in protected beds where they receive natural temperatures for a month or two. Simple wire screening is recommended to protect from squirrels.
Please email your requests to me and provide complete shipping information. Connie and I are donating all mailing and packing costs and ask that you occasionally report germination status, and plant growth, fruiting, and seed production. Volunteers need to be committed for 10-15 years before good seed production is expected and be willing to further distribute seeds.
Thank you for your interest in preserving our national botanical treasure Torreya.
Happy Trails, Lee
PS from Connie:
1. This summer, Orion Magazine will be publishing a feature article on Torreya Guardians work in a time of climate change.
2. Also, do periodically check the comments page of our website to see what's happening, along with new ideas.
3. Watch the rewilding page too, especially the July 2007 post I made there about Atlanta Botanical Gardens looking for INSTITUTIONS to send seeds and seedlings to. They've got a huge inventory. Unlike Torreya Guardians, they cannot send seeds to individuals, but nature centers and botanical gardens should contact Ron Determann at Atlanta Botanical Garden directly to participate.
December 2007 / by Connie Barlow, Torreya Guardians webmaster / Advice (with photos) on propagating T. taxifolia
In early December 2007, I visited Ron Determann and David Ruland at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and toured their Torreya taxifolia propagation facilities. Most impressive! I have added to this website a catalog of advice for propagating this endangered tree from seeds and from branch cuttings, and have embellished the page with lots of photographs.
July 2007 / by Connie Barlow, Torreya Guardians webmaster / Seedlings available for institutions; tips for how to grow T. taxifolia from seed
This month I received inquiries from 2 print journalists and 1 radio journalist who wanted to learn more about our efforts to rewild Torreya taxifolia. It seems that with the new interest in assisted migration in a time of global warming, journalists are looking for some actual instances of people actually intentionally doing it, in behalf of a species. Well, we are the closest it comes — and yet we aren't quite doing it yet either. With the little seed stock of this highly endangered plant that we have access to, we are still at the stage of passing seed on to individuals and institutions who commit to nurturing groves of this species. Not until those groves start producing seed themselves will we have enough seeds to gamble on planting some in wild forested landscapes on private lands, where they can grow (or not grow) as circumstances allow, and so that squirrels can become natural dispersers of the 3rd generation seeds, rather than us.
Besides the Biltmore Gardens, where squirrels have, for decades, been engaged in planting seeds on their own, I wasn't aware of any place where rewilding was somewhat occurring — with the possible exception of Smithgall Conservation Area in the southernmost Appalachians of northern Georgia. So I called Ron Determann at Atlanta Botanical Garden, which is superbly successful at producing T. taxifolia seeds from their "potted orchard" of trees cloned some 15 years ago from remaining vegetative tissue from struggling plants in the Apalachicola "native" range. Here is what Ron (who has been working with T. taxifolia since 1989) told me:
First, the Smithgall plantings are not rewilding, because they are planted as a grove and tended in a botanical garden setting there. Technically, rewilding won't happen until the species is returned to wild or semi-wild forest settings and starts distributing from there on its own (via squirrels). Atlanta Botanical Garden actually has an excess of torreya seedlings they would love to provide reputable institutions (at cost of shipping and handling) for safeguarding in a variety of climate settings where they will grow — as a safeguard against species extinction if problems persist in the "native" range, especially because, as with the Apalachicola, "the climate in Atlanta isn't that great for Torreya either." They also have surplus seeds from "indeterminate females", and these they are especially willing to give away. Unlike Torreya Guardians, they are not open to sending seed to individuals in private land settings. But we Torreya Guardians can spread the word among enthusiasts to try to recruit local botanical gardens or nature centers to volunteer to take seedlings, and then we ourselves can volunteer at those centers to nurture those plants.
Also important, Ron told me that Atlanta Botanical Garden has almost 100% success with germination of seed they produce there. Here is how they do it.
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TIPS FOR GERMINATING SEED:
Remove the flesh around the seed and immediately plant each seed outdoors about 1 inch deep in well-drained soil, covered with compost. He says the normal shifts in temperature during the winter in Atlanta and points north are important for stratifying them and breaking dormancy, and that a refrigerator is not cold and variable enough. Pots outdoors would get the seed too cold in harsh climates, so in the ground (or in slightly raised beds) is best. They use "welded wire" beneath the planting and above to keep rodents away from the seeds. So this means that if we ever get access to more seeds, we need to distribute them right away for fall plantings in outdoor conditions. At Atlanta Botanical Garden, they germinate the seed under oaks, with the natural fungi in the soil. His experience suggests that it is best to remove the fresh seedlings from the germination beds pretty much as soon as you see them, and get them planted where you want them, and you will have better trees.
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The Atlanta Botanical Garden reports the same thing that the Biltmore reports: squirrels are quite capable of dispersing the seed from planted orchards outward into whatever settings (beds or natural) are within range. Atlanta attempts to deny squirrels access to their outdoor potted groves of Torreya trees used for seed production, and because they use welded wire in their germination beds, they are stopping the squirrels there too. But the squirrels always manage to walk away with some, and some that the squirrels plant are not subsequently dug up and eaten: and they germinate on their own.
Some final assessments: Ron's experience leads him to think that if seeds are taken north "those plants will adapt". From my conversation with him, I sense that the distinction we Torreya Guardians have always made — that our goal is not to assist Torreya in rewilding on public lands, but only on private lands — is a very important message to broadcast. Also, I sense that there is far more receptivity to ensuring that even on private lands, the tree is being moved into non-pristine settings. That is, the ecology has already been disrupted on lands now nurtured toward recovery, and Torreya can thus be ethically introduced there to see how it does on its own.
Two other tips I picked up from Ron Determann: (1) Atlanta Botanical Garden donated some seeds to Highlands Biological Station in Highlands, NC. A Torreya Guardian needs to check up on those plantings and see if seeds can be nurtured from that grove! (2) Someplace near Asheville, actually in Nolina NC, is producing seeds. It would be great if a Torreya Guardian can recontact Ron and track down who and what the situation is, for possible access to seeds.
June 14, 2007 / by Jeff Morris / another germination from 2005 T. taxifolia seeds
"Last Sunday, I noticed my first seedling sprout from one of the seeds. I am going on vacation, after which I will take photos, and hopefully have a couple more to photograph."
March 2007 / by Connie Barlow, Torreya Guardians webmaster / Don't give up hope on germinating more T. taxifolia seeds
"Euan - Thank you for the info on the germination of 1 of 10 seeds of T. taxifolia. Don't give up hope on the other nine! It is possible that T. taxifolia co-evolved with tortoises as dispersal agents, so the seed coat might be designed tough enough to get through an animal's digestive tract intact. Absent that natural acidic treatment, it might take longer and variably among the seeds. I wrote a book, The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms, (Basic Books, 2001) in which I discovered, for example, that absent passage through a gut or physical scarification with a knife, the seeds of American honelocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) can take 3 years or more to germinate, and American Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioica) can take 7 years. I found that when I scarred them with a knife in my kitchen, all viable seeds germinated in 3 days. Here are three on-line articles that I published about that book:
article in Natural History
article in Wild Earth
article in Arnoldia
I am trying to locate someone or an institution in Florida interested in testing Torreya californica whole "fruits" on the large gopher tortoises in Florida, as in my 2001 book I surmised that the pulpy sarcotesta covering the seed might be an attractive food for the tortoise (which is known to eat the pulpy covered cycad seeds here). The experiment would not only test whether gopher tortoises find the fruit attractive but also whether passage through its gut affects germination success and timing. My hypothesis is that local extirpation of the gopher tortoise (and extinction of larger Pleistocene species of tortoise) by paleoIndians living in the tiny pocket refuge as the Ice Age waned may have prevented dispersal of Torreya taxifolia northward to its interglacial habitat in the southern Appalachian Mountains."
March 2007 / by Euan Roxburgh, U.K. / One of ten of Fall 2005 T. taxifolia seeds germinated outdoors in December 2006
"Dear Torreya Guardians: I've germinated one Torreya taxifolia
seed. It germinated in December 2006 outside in a pot. The other 9 seeds, sorry to say, did not germinate. The seedling is now 2 inches high. I have one other
clone here of Torreya taxifolia." [Editor's note: This volunteer grower received a packet of 10 Torreya taxifolia seeds from the Fall 2005 harvest at the Biltmore Gardens of North Carolina].
March 2007 / by Didier Maerki, Arboretum de Villardebelle in southern France / Fall 2005 T. taxifolia seeds germinated in March 2007
"Dear Torreya Guardians: This is to inform you that the 2 first seeds germinated and are sprouting. Both labeled as [possible] male, date of sowing 16 May 2006. Best Wishes,
Didier" [Editor's note: The Arboretum de Villardebelle received a packet of 10 Torreya taxifolia seeds from the Fall 2005 harvest at the Biltmore Gardens of North Carolina].
August 2006 / by Connie Barlow / Visit to Torreya grove in Highlands NC and T. taxifolia grove in Asheville NC
In August 2006, I delivered a powerpoint presentation, "Rewilding Torreya Trees to Appalachia", as part of the summer Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, in Highlands, North Carolina. Fifty-five people attended, so this was a tremendous opportunity to build support for our Torreya Guardians effort at the very place where we anticipate T. tax having spent most of its evolutionary career during the Cenozoic — and where its interglacial migrations upstream of the Apalachicola River would repeatedly have carried it (as this is the ancestral headwaters of the river system, before those headwaters were captured into the Savannah River system). Lee Barnes, coordinator of the 2005 seed distribution, accompanied me on this trip, and we both made excellent contacts for further work.
In addition, Robert Zahner alerted us to a private grove of Torreya sp. trees that we were able to visit and study. See on this website a photo-journal of that visit to the Highlands Grove of Torreya.
A few days later, I visited (for the third time in 4 years) the grove of mature and fruiting Torreya taxifolia at the Biltmore Gardens in Asheville, NC. I recorded my field notes in a photo-journal webpage on my Biltmore visit.
Finally, Lee Barnes has finished the 2005 seed distribution and reports that packets of 10 were sent to institutions and individuals in
Ohio (2 packets to Dawes Arboretum; 1 to an individual)
western North Carolina (1 packet to an individual)
central North Carolina (1 packet to an indivdual)
New York State (1 packet to an indivdual)
southern France (1 packet to Arboretum de Villardbelle)
Devon England (1 packet to an individual)
June 2006 / by Connie Barlow / Distribution of 2005 Torreya Seeds
I interviewed Lee Barnes (volunteer coordinator for the T. tax seed distribution effort) over the phone and am filing this progress report on distribution of seeds collected at the Biltmore Gardens in October 2005. Lee reports that Bill Alexander donated to Torreya Guardians (TG) 110 of the 140 seeds collected at the Biltmore Gardens in October 2005. Lee Barnes cleaned, stratified (in his refrigerator), attempted to sex (via intuitive dowsing), and then grouped into 10-seed packets the 99 seeds that seemed viable (11 were "floaters"). Because there is no non-invasive way to scientifically sex a seed, TG determined to distribute the seeds in groups of 10 to ensure a mixture of male and female plants and to promote genetic diversity in the F2 generations of seed production. All recipients must, thus, have the land availability to plant a grove of ten trees in this stage of the rewilding project. (Interested parties are encouraged to study the text and photos on the California Torreya pages of this website in order to ascertain the types of habitats in which T. tax plantings might thrive.)
Lee began the process of distribution by querying botanical gardens for interest in planting the seeds in outdoor settings and for long-term participation in resultant seed distribution. Two institutions responded with interest, and 2 packets (of 10 seeds per packet) were set to them:
The Dawes Arboretum in Newark Ohio (near Columbus)
Arboretum de Villardebelle in southern France
At this early stage in "rewilding" the emphasis is on encouraging plantings of groves of T. tax on lands (even on another continent!) that will have adequate horticultural expertise and long-term care such that seed production is assured. We are also very curious as to how well T. tax does in Ohio, and thus Lee will soon be sending The Dawes Arboretum a second packet of seeds, so that they will begin with a total of 20 individuals.
The next step will be to send an email inquiry to all who have expressed interest in growing T. tax for conservation purposes. Distribution of the remaining 7 packets of seeds will be to those individuals who demonstrate in their responses the best chances for successful propagation and long-term participation in seed production and distribution. Because T. tax sometimes takes 2 years to germinate, seed planting will be encouraged to take place in large pots, for later transplanting. With additional years of seed donation by the Biltmore, we look forward to widening the seed plantings to include a host of different natural environments, tending more and more toward re-introduction into wild forest settings on private lands.
Soon, Connie Barlow intends to send a query letter to Audubon Magazine, suggesting that they direct one of their reporters to cover this effort, emphasizing the historic nature of this first "assisted migration" effort in an era of global warming and how this bottom-up grassroots effort (connected via internet) is a model for actions that could be taken in behalf of other plant species, particularly if our economy collapses to such a point that professional funding for actions in behalf of threatened plants is severely limited.
March 2006/ by Lee Barnes / Preparing for Distribution of 2005 Torreya Seeds
I've just now sent out eight emails offering Torreya seeds to Botanical
Gardens suggested by Bill Alexander (NC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill, NC;
Bernheim Arboretum, KY; Dawes Arboretum, OH; Duke Gardens, Durham, NC; JC
Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh, NC; NC Arboretum, Asheville, NC; Arnold
Arboretum, MA; and Arboretum de Villardebelle, FR.). I've requested their
response by April 1st. I'm hoping that email requests will be received and
acted upon quicker than by US Postal Service.
If everyone is interested, this leaves us about 19 seeds for individuals —
or two mailings. I'll wait until the 1st week in April to count requests,
and then will open to other individuals who have requested seed. My sense
is to ID the top interested folks that have facilities to germinate and pot
up and grow out larger seedlings. Editor's note: Lee Barnes is the volunteer Torreya Guardian in charge of preparing and distributing T. tax seeds harvested by staff of the Biltmore Gardens, Asheville NC.
October 2005 - Seeds Collected at Biltmore:
Bill Alexander reports 140 seeds collected from the T. tax trees at the Biltmore Gardens (Asheville, North Carolina). Unknown what percentage will be viable. Lee Barnes and Bill Alexander in communication about stratification, storage, and subsequent distribution. Note: Bill Alexander reports that this was an off year for seed production, so it is fortunate that any seeds were collected at all.
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