Basic Introduction to Lichuan Torreya Grandis
Lichuan Torreya Grandis is a specialty of Lichuan County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, China. Lichuan County boasts abundant wild Torreya resources. The nuts are characterized by thin shells that are easy to crack, plump kernels, rich oils, and a pleasant aroma. Lichuan Torreya Grandis is a rare and healthy dry fruit and woody oil tree species native to China, with high economic value from cultivation, good ecological landscape benefits, and high requirements for the ecological environment.
The Lichuan Torreya Grandis tree belongs to the Taxaceae family and is a unique woody oil tree species in China, with its fruit being a well-known dry fruit. When roasted, the Torreya fruit is crisp and delicious with a distinctive aroma, highly favored by people; the fruit can also be used medicinally, having effects such as relieving cough, nourishing the lungs, treating hemorrhoids, and expelling parasites. The bark contains 3% to 6% tannin, which can be extracted for industrial use in producing tanning agents. The aril of the Torreya fruit can be refined into Torreya oil.
Product Characteristics
1. External Features:
Lichuan Torreya Grandis is shaped like a long oval or ellipse, with a shell that is yellowish-brown or purplish-brown, and the kernel is long-oval and yellowish-white. The tip is pointed, and the end is slender, with a slightly protruding navel point. The shell is thin and brittle, the kernel is plump, rich in oils, and has a fragrant aroma. Most fresh fruits weigh 15 to 18 grams each, and most dried fruits weigh 4 to 6 grams each.
2. Internal Quality:
Lichuan Torreya Grandis contains calcium at 12 mg/100g to 18 mg/100g, protein at 7.7% to 10.5%, magnesium at 140 mg/100g to 180 mg/100g, phosphorus at 1.40 x 103 mg/kg to 1.60 x 103 mg/kg, zinc at 15 mg/kg to 21 mg/kg, potassium at 460 mg/100g to 490 mg/100g, iron at 0.5 mg/100g to 0.9 mg/100g, total flavonoids at 0.3 g/kg to 0.5 g/kg, linoleic acid at 42% to 48%, and linolenic acid at 0.3% to 0.7%.
Historical Folklore
The history of Lichuan Torreya Grandis in Lichuan dates back a long time. In Issue 06 of the 1993 volume of *Jiangxi Forestry Science and Technology*, an article by Huang Quanxing titled “Investigation of the Lichuan Yanquan Torreya Resources” was published. According to legend, during the 11th year of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there were around a thousand households living in the area of Yanquan Maitianzhou in Lichuan, with a thriving population and many talented individuals. The local governor Kong, who had passed the imperial examination, reported to the emperor that Maitianzhou would produce a thousand scholars. Misunderstanding this, the emperor decreed the protection of a thousand Torreya trees. Thus, Torreya trees were planted that year, and these trees came to be known locally as “scholar trees.”
To this day, there are more than 6,500 Torreya trees over 100 years old in the region. During the Ming Dynasty, Deng Yuanshu, a famous Confucian scholar, writer, and poet from Lichuan, known at the time as “the gentleman of Jiangxi,” wrote a poem praising the Lichuan Torreya trees, which reads: “Standing tall and firm on precipitous peaks, indifferent to wolves and tigers, they bear golden seeds in autumn, standing for thousands of years with eternal fame.” There are records in the *Lichuan County Gazetteer* mentioning the sale of “Torreya seeds” by villagers in Maitianzhou during the Ming Dynasty.
In 2012, Lichuan County began vigorously developing the Torreya industry, adopting a model of “company + cooperative + base + farmer” to establish ten-thousand-mu Torreya industrial bases and one-thousand-mu Torreya seedling bases, as well as constructing Torreya deep processing enterprises and research bases.
Awards and Honors
On May 22, 2014, the former Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China officially approved the registration and protection of the geographical indication for “Lichuan Torreya Grandis” as an agricultural product.