Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya

Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya

Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya is a geographical indication agricultural product.

　　Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya is a specialty of Liuchuan County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province. It is a nationally protected geographical indication agricultural product.

　　Category: Fruit Product Name: Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya Registration Certificate No.: AGI01399 Ministry of Agriculture Announcement No./Date: No. 2105 (May 22, 2014) Brief Humanistic History Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya has a long history in Liuchuan. The article "Investigation of Fragrant Torreya Resources in Yanquan, Liuchuan" by Huang Quanxing, published in the June 1993 issue of Jiangxi Forestry Science and Technology, mentions that during the 11th year of the Ming Dynasty's Wanli era, the Maixi Zhou area of Yanquan in Liuchuan was home to a thousand households, thriving with population and talent. Kong Guanzhong, a local scholar who passed the imperial examination to become a provincial governor, reported to the emperor that Maixi Zhou would produce a thousand successful candidates in the imperial exams. Mishearing the report, the emperor conferred protection upon a thousand torreya trees. As a result, torreya trees were planted that year, and locals now call them “Scholar Trees.” To this day, over 6,500 torreya trees aged more than 100 years still stand in the region. Deng Yuansi, a renowned Neo-Confucian scholar, writer, and poet from Liuchuan during the Ming Dynasty—known as a “Gentleman of Jiangyou”—wrote a poem titled “In Praise of Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya Trees”: “Iron-framed, they stand firmly on perilous peaks, / Unfazed whether wolves come or tigers go. / In autumn, their seeds ripen, yellow as brocade, / Upright for a thousand years, their fame shall never fade.” The Liuchuan County Annals also record that during the Ming Dynasty, villagers in Maixi Zhou sold “torreya nuts.”

　　Liuchuan County is located in the mid-subtropical zone, featuring distinct seasons, warm days and cool nights, abundant mountain resources, no industrial pollution, and deep, fertile soil—all of which provide ideal conditions for the growth and development of fragrant torreya trees. Liuchuan has a long history of cultivating fragrant torreya trees. Within the Yanquan Forest Farm—a national forest park—located in towns such as Hongcun, Zhangxi, Sheping, Xicheng, and Desheng, there is a natural grove of fragrant torreya trees. This grove spans a mountainous area of over 100 acres, with around 1,500 trees of various sizes. Each tree trunk is straight and tall, and the oldest trees are over 800 years old.

　　Fragrant torreya trees belong to the Taxaceae family and are a unique species of woody oil-producing tree in China. Their fruits are famous dried nuts. Roasted fragrant torreya nuts are crispy and delicious, with a distinctive aroma, making them highly popular. The nuts also have medicinal properties, helping relieve coughs, moisten lungs, treat hemorrhoids, and expel parasites. The bark of the fragrant torreya tree contains 3% to 6% tannin, which can be extracted to make industrial tannins. The pseudofruit of the fragrant torreya nut can be refined into torreya oil.

　　In 2014, “Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya,” applied for by the Liuchuan County Agricultural Technology Extension Center, passed the review of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Center and expert evaluation, and was granted national geographical indication registration protection.

　　Geographical Scope

　　Liuchuan is located in the central-eastern part of Jiangxi Province, southeastern Fuzhou City, at the western foothills of the central section of the Wuyi Mountains. The protected production area of Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya includes nine towns (townships): Hongcun Town, Zhangxi Township, Xicheng Township, Houcun Township, Xunkou Town, Sheping Township, Hufang Township, Xiongshan Town, and Desheng Town. The protected area lies between 116°42′42″–117°10′14″ east longitude and 26°59′6″–27°33′58″ north latitude. The protected area covers 2,000 hectares, with an annual yield of 20,000 tons.

　　Product Quality Characteristics

　　1. External Sensory Characteristics: Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya is oblong or oval in shape, with a yellowish-brown or purplish-brown shell. The seed kernel is long-oval and yellowish-white. The top is pointed and the end is slender, with a slightly protruding hilum. The shell is thin and brittle, while the kernel is plump, rich in oil, and aromatic. Most fresh fruits weigh 15–18g each, and most dried fruits weigh 4–6g each. 2. Internal Quality Indicators: Contains 12–18mg calcium/100g, 7.7%–10.5% protein, 140–180mg magnesium/100g, 1.40×10³–1.60×10³mg phosphorus/kg, 15–21mg zinc/kg, 460–490mg potassium/100g, 0.5–0.9mg iron/100g, 0.3–0.5g total flavonoids/kg, 42%–48% linoleic acid, and 0.3%–0.7% linolenic acid. 3. Quality and Safety Requirements: Liuchuan Fragrant Torreya is produced strictly in accordance with the LY/T1940-2011 Technical Regulations for Cultivating Fruit-Bearing Fragrant Torreya.