Fossil deposits of the Bridge Creek flora in the John Day Formation of Oregon, USA, contain the remains of Torreya masonii, an ancient conifer species. This prehistoric member of the nutmeg yew family lived during the Oligocene epoch, approximately 30 million years ago.
First described in 1997 by paleobotanists Herbert W. Meyer and Steven R. Manchester, this taxon provides crucial clues about the evolutionary history and historical distribution of the genus Torreya in North America. Today, the genus exists only in small relictual populations in North America and East Asia.
The physical characteristics of Torreya masonii are reconstructed from fossilized compression and impression materials, including the holotype specimen UF 10351.
The discovery of Torreya masonii in the Bridge Creek flora is significant for paleobiogeography. It demonstrates that the genus Torreya had a much wider geographic distribution during the Paleogene period than it does today.
The type material is distributed among prestigious collections, with the holotype housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History and paratypes preserved at the Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley.
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