YEW FAMILY 



51 



1. TUMION Raf. Amen. Xat. 63. 1840. 

 [ToRREYA Arn. 1838. not Raf. 1817.] 



Trees with spreading or drooping branches and fissured bark. Leaves appearing 2- 

 ranked, flat, long-pointed. Staminate flowers solitary, forming dense clusters on the lower 

 side of last year's twigs, oval or oblong, pollen-sacs 4 ; ovulate flowers in pairs on this 

 year's twigs, the ovule surrounded by 4 scales and becoming completely enclosed by the 

 fleshy aril. Fruit maturing the second year, drupe-like with a thick resinous leathery 

 outer coat ; seed sharp-pointed ; endosperm channeled by the infolding of the thick woody 

 integument. [An ancient Greek name for the yew.] 



Four species, which are comparatively local but widely separated geographically, there being one each in 

 Florida, California, Japan, and China. Fossils have been found in the arctic region and northern Europe. 

 Type species, Tnmion taxifoliiitn (Arn.) Greene. 



1. Tumion californicum ( Torr. ) Greene. 



Fig. 



110. 



California Nutmeg. 



Torreva cali'fornica Torr. N. Y. Tourn. Pharm. 3: 49. 



1853. 

 Torreva myristica Hook. Bot. Mag. III. 10: pi. 4780. 



1854. 

 Tumion californicum Greene, Pittonia 2: 195. 1891. 



Tree 15-35 m. high with a trunk 3-12 dm. 

 in diameter ; branches slender, spreading or 

 drooping ; bark brown or yellowish brown, 

 10-15 mm. thick, deeply and broadly fur- 

 rowed, covered with loose scaly plates. 

 Leaves 25-75 mm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, dark 

 green and glossy above, slightly paler and 

 with a deep, narrow groove beneath, very 

 sharp-pointed, emitting a pungent odor when 

 bruised; staminate flowers about 8 mm. long; 

 fruit ovoid-oblong, 25-35 mm. long, green, 

 with purplish streaks or blotches. 



Moist, shaded slopes and along water courses, 

 usually scattered or in small groups, Transition Zone; 

 western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from Tulare to 

 Tehama Counties, and in the Coast Ranges, from 

 Mendocino to Santa Cruz Counties. Type locality: 

 Headwaters of Feather and Yuba Rivers. 



2. TAXUS [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 1040. 1753. 



Trees or shrubs with scah- bark, usually horizontal or drooping branches, and strong 

 elastic durable w-ood. Leaves persistent for 4—5 years, linear to lanceolate, flat, keeled on 

 the upper surface, stomatiferous beneath, revolute on the margins; staminate flowers 

 globose, of 4-8 stamens; pollen-sacs several, pendent in a circle around the filament; ovulate 

 flowers solitary on rudimentary axillary branches, minute and green, maturing in the 

 autumn. Seed w-ith a bony integument, ovate-oblong, about 8 mm. long, surrounded but 

 free from the thickened gelatinous sweet scarlet cup-shaped aril. [The classical name] 



About 6 closely related species widely distributed over the northern hemisphere, especially in the 

 cooler parts of the north temperate zone. Three species are in North America. Type species, Ta.viis 

 baccata L., the English yew of the gardens. 



1. Taxus brevifolia Nutt. 

 Western Yew. Fig. 111. 



Taxus brevifolia Nutt. N. Am. Sylva 3: 86. pi. 108. 



1849. 

 Taxus boursieri Carr. Rev. Hort. 3: 228. 1854. 

 Taxus liiidlevana Murr. Edinb. New Phil. Journ. II. 



1: 294. 1855. 



Tree 10-25 m. high, with straight, often 

 fluted, trunk, 2-12 dm. in diameter, and with 

 slender, spreading or drooping branches ; 

 bark about 6 mm. thick, covered with small, 

 dark reddish brown scales. Leaves linear, 

 12-16 mm. long, about 1-2 mm. wide, acute, 

 deep yellow-green and shining above, much 

 paler beneath, 2-ranked, forming flat sprays, 

 persisting 4—5 years ; flowers and fruit as 

 described in the generic description. 



In deep, coniferous woods in moist situations, 

 widely distributed, but seldom forming groves, Cana- 

 dian and Transition Zones; southern Alaska and the 

 Selkirk Mountains, to western Montana, the Santa 

 Cruz Mountains and the western slope of the .Sierra 

 Nevada to Tulare County, California. Type locality: 

 in the dense maritime forests of Oregon. 



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