Japanese Nutmeg

Japanese Nutmeg, also called kaya or Japanese torreya, Torreya nucifera, is a slow-growing evergreen conifer that reaches fifteen to twenty five meters tall with trunks up to 1.5 meters in diameter, bearing spirally arranged, needle-like leaves two to three centimeters long with a sharply spined tip and fleshy, single-seeded cones. It is native to southern Japan and South Korea's Jeju Island, and a 1916 survey found it flourishing in nearly every wood and forest from Yakushima to Tokyo, notably on the steep shale slopes of Mount Takao's heights. Its wood, prized for its yellow-gold color, fine even grain, and acoustic qualities, is used to make Go and Shogi boards that can sell for more than twenty thousand dollars, while its seeds are edible when roasted and yield a vegetable oil, and its leaves and oil have ritual uses in Japanese esoteric Buddhism.