12 



The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. X, No. 1, 



1. Thuja occidentalis L. Arborvitae. Usually a small, 

 conical tree with fan-like branches. Self-prunes twigs. Wood 

 light and durable. Usually in wet soil and along the banks of 

 streams. Champaign, Franklin, Greene, Highland and Adams 

 Counties. 



Juniperus L. Juniper. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs with small globose, berrv-like 

 bluish or blackish cones. 



1. Leaves all subulate, prickly pointed, verticillate ; cones axillary. ... 2 



1. Leaves of 2 kinds, scale-like and subulate, opposite or verticillate; 



cones terminal J. virginiana. 



2. Erect trees or shrubs; leaves slender, mostly straight J. communis. 



2. Low depressed shrubs; leaves stouter, mostly curved J. nana. 



1. Juniperus communis L. Common Juniper. A low tree 

 with spreading or drooping branches and shreddy bark. Goats 

 are poisoned from eating the leaves. On dry hills. In the 

 northern part of Ohio, as far south as Fairfield County. 



2. Juniperus nana Willd. Low Juniper. A depressed 

 rigid shrub usualh' with creeping radiating iDranches, the ends 

 erect or ascending, thus forming circular patches. In dry open 

 places. Cedar Point, Erie County. 



3. Juniperus virginiana L. Red Juniper. A tree with 

 spreading, ofter irregular branches, when old, but conic in shape 

 when young. Self-prunes twigs. Wood very valuable, light, 

 straight-grained, durable and fragrant; used almost exclusively 

 in the manufacture of lead pencils. Often infested with the 

 "cedar-apple" fungus. Poisonous to goats. Common on hills 

 and bluffs; general in Ohio. 



Order, TAXALES. 



Conifers with the stamens (microsporophvUs) in cones, but 

 the carpels (megasporophylls) mostly single ; ours with a red 

 fleshy disk surrounding the ripe seed. 



Taxaceae, Yew Family. 



Staminate (microsporangiate) cone with 3-5 stamens ; carpels 

 solitarv with one or two erect ovules. 



Taxus L. Yew. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs without resin, with spirally ar- 

 ranged, short petioled, linear, flat leaves spreading into 2 ranks. 

 Fruit with a bony seed surrounded by a fleshy red disk. 



1. Taxus canadensis Marsh. American Yew. A low, usual- 

 ly straggling shrub with linear leaves green on both sides. The 

 leaves are supposed to be poisonous to stock. On rocky banks 

 and in woods. Northern Ohio, as far south as Fairfield and 

 Greene Counties. 



