492 NOTES ON THE VARIETIES OP COMMON YEW. 



massive, grand, are terms which may be appropriately used to 

 one or the other of them. 



It is my present intention to look at them from one point of 

 view only, and that a popular one — their value as ornamental 

 trees in garden scenery — and so regarded, they seem to fall 

 naturally into four groups, viz. : — 



Group 1. — Varieties of a spreading Jiabit, of which the common 

 Yew is the type. 



Group 2. — Varieties of pyramidal or columnar habit, of which 

 the Irish Yew is the type. 



Group 3. — Varieties of weeping habit. 



Group 4. — Varieties with variegated foliage. 



Group 1.— Vabieties of spreading habit. 

 1. T. baccata, common Yew. 



3. T. b. fructu-luteo, the yellow berried Yew. This is one 

 of the most elegant ; the pulp surrounding the seed is of a dull 

 yellow colour instead of red, as in the ordinary kind. The growth 

 is vigorous; the leaves are of a very pleasing green medium tint. 



5. T. b. nigra. This is a striking plant of bold and rather 

 upright growth ; the leaves are of a bluish or blackish-green. It 

 flowers abundantly, and is very effective in the landscape, forming 

 a somewhat sombre, but grand and massive tree. 



4. T. b. procmnbens, forms a huge spreading bush ; leaves 

 bright green, the plant looked at as a whole, having a reddish 

 appearance. 



Group 2.— Varieties of pxeamidal, or columnar habit. 



>. T. b. fastigiata, the Irish, or Florence-court Yew, is a 

 plant of rigid growth, columnar in form ; leaves dark green. This 

 plant is too familiar to require an extended notice, although very 

 useful in formal gardening. Seeds of this variety produce for 

 the most part the common Yew, but some vary in form and tint. 



6. T. b. cheshuntensis, is a very graceful variety, of pyramidal 

 growth, the leaves small and closely set on the branches; the 

 colour is of a bright glossy green. It appears to stand midway 

 between the common and Irish Yew, but is less formal than 

 the latter and grows twice as fast. This variety was raised by 

 me some years ago, from seeds of the Irish Yew. 



7. T. b. pyramidalis. This variety resembles cheshmtensis 



