518 CXXXI. CONIFERS. Taxusi. 



and durable. It is used for fences, aqueducts, tubs and pails, and in the manu- 

 facture of drawing pencils. April, May. 



p. prodrata. L/vs. ovate, submucronate, glandular in the middle, appressed; 

 berries tubercular; si. prostrate, creeping. — A shrub, on gravely shores, with 

 creeping branches 4 — 8f long. 



Tribe 3. TAXINEiE. 



Fertile flowers solitary, terminal, consisting of a naked ovule maturing into a 



kind of drupe. 



6. TAXUS. 



Gr. ra^ov, an arrow ; arrows were formerly poisoned with the juice of the yezo tree. 



Flowers c? 9 or c?, surrounded with numerous scales, c? Stamens 

 8 — 10, monadelphous ; anthers peltate, 6 — 8-celled, cells dehiscent 

 beneath. 9 solitary, consisting of a single ovule, becoming in fruit a 

 fleshy, 1 -seeded drupe. — Trees or shrubs, with evergreen, linear, alter- 

 nate leaves. 



T. Canadensis. Dwarf Yew. Ground Hemlock. 



Lvs. linear, mucronate, 2-ranked, revolute on the margin; sterile recepta- 

 cles globose. — A small, evergreen shrub, with the general aspect of a dwarf 

 hemlock spruce (^Pinus Canadensis). It grows on thin, rocky soils in shady 

 places, 2 — 3f long, Can. to Penn. and Ky. Leaves nearly an inch long, ar- 

 ranged in 2 opposite rows, on the sides of the branchlets. Staminate flowers in 

 small, roundish, axillary heads. Drupes oval, concave or open at the summit, 

 red and juicy when mature. May. 



