Torreya Nucifera

Torreya nucifera is a slow-growing, coniferous tree native to southern Japan and to South Korea's Jeju Island. It is also called kaya. It grows to 15–25 m tall, and the leaves are evergreen and needle-like. Shin-kaya ("new kaya" in Japanese) is usually an Alaskan, Tibetan or Siberian white spruce, which has become somewhat popular for cheaper equipment due to the scarcity of kaya trees. The leaves of the tree represent flowers and the oil from the tree is burnt as a lamp during a long Japanese meditation practice known as Morning Star meditation. The seeds are edible, and also pressed for their vegetable oil content. Other than that, the trees can have cultural and historic significance to people living around them, such as the Japanese Torreya of Samin-ri.